By Colin Yong

YOU MAY ALREADY have figured this one out, going by the scene on the streets, but figures released last week by the Motor Traders Association of Singapore (MTA) have made it official: the Toyota Corolla Altis was the best-selling car here in 2004.

Local Toyota distributor Borneo Motors registered 11,612 units last year – an average of nearly 32 cars every single day. This put the Altis 2,772 units ahead of the aging Nissan Sunny, whose sales were buoyed by its ultra-keen pricing and the availability of manual transmission.

More than 22 percent of Sunny owners chose to shift gears themselves, an option not open to Altis buyers since the Toyota is available only with an automatic gearbox.

Other Toyota models continued to do well, too. The Vios leapfrogged the Hyundai Matrix to finish third in the sales chart, while the Camry and Picnic remained the best-selling models in their respective classes.

Although the Matrix’s popularity seems to be on the decline, extremely healthy sales of Hyundai’s other models, particularly the Accent, Getz and Sonata, propelled the Korean carmaker to the number two spot in the manufacturer’s rankings, splitting Toyota and Nissan. It sold 4,709 more cars than in 2003, itself a record year for the brand.

The sales performance of the Tucson, Hyundai’s new Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), was also nothing short of a revelation. Despite being on the market for less than six months, it managed to storm straight to the top of its class by the end of the year.

MARKET SHARE FIGURES TELL ANOTHER STORY
In all, MTA’s members shifted 90,287 cars in 2004, a significant increase over the previous year’s tally of 73,139 thanks to the larger COE quota. Despite nine of the top 10 manufacturers increasing their total unit sales, though, only four posted gains in market share.

Hyundai’s 2.85 percent gain came at the expense of Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan, although the latter was hardest hit as it watched its portion of the market shrink from 15.49 to 13.86 percent.

This is likely to be a temporary setback for Nissan though, since it will officially launch the 1.5-litre Latio saloon and Latio Sport hatchback, as well as the 2.5-litre Presage Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV), on January 25th. The Murano, a stylish large SUV, will debut later this year. These fresh models should help to turn Nissan’s fortunes around in the near future.

One carmaker which received a huge boost through the arrival of a new model was Honda. The Odyssey was an instant success right from its introduction in the second quarter of 2004, and with the sales momentum now firmly in its favour, it looks set to dethrone the Picnic as Singapore’s
favourite seven-seater this coming year.

BMW had a great year, with distributor Performance Motors putting 2,915 cars on the road – an all-time high for the company. The arrival of the new 3 Series and facelifted 7 Series this year should see the brand continue to do well in 2005.

Watch out too for Kia, which increased its unit sales by a whopping 44 percent in 2004. The Korean manufacturer has just launched the potentially big-selling Sportage SUV, and also expects to have the new Rio and Magentis in its showrooms before this year is out.

All eyes will remain on the top three, though. No one looks capable of snatching the number one spot away from Toyota just yet, but will the arrival of Hyundai’s and Nissan’s new models see the duo gnaw away at Toyota’s market share? Can Nissan fight back to regain its number two position?

Time will tell, but 2005 is already shaping up to be a battle royale among the big manufacturers. And as always in situations like these, the consumer will emerge the winner.

2004 Car Sales by Class
Compact cars
1. Toyota Vios - 5,248
2. Hyundai Getz - 2,338
3. Hyundai Accent - 1,835
Sales of the Vios really took off last year and it overhauled the Camry to become Toyota’s second-best selling car. The Getz was Singapore’s favourite compact hatchback, ahead of the Honda Jazz (1,348).

Small cars
1. Toyota Corolla Altis - 11,612
2. Nissan Sunny - 8,840
3. Mitsubishi Lancer - 3,601
The Corolla Altis accounted for nearly 13 percent of all new cars sold in 2004, but the Sunny wasn’t all that far behind. Other strong sellers in this class included the Honda Civic (3,098) and Mazda 3 (2,698).

Medium cars
1. Hyundai Sonata - 1,798
2. BMW 3 Series - 1,046
3. Mazda 6 - 628
Ultra-keen pricing saw the last few units of the now-obsolete Sonata fly off the showroom floor. The 3 Series had a good year too, with BMW shifting nearly twice as many as Mercedes-Benz did its C-Class (525).

Big cars
1. Toyota Camry - 3,718
2. Nissan Cefiro - 2,392
3. Mercedes-Benz E-Class - 1,835
Although Camry sales slowed down after the facelifted, Thai-made model hit the market, it remained the undisputed champ in this class. Among the Europeans, the E-Class had the legs on the BMW 5 Series (980).

Luxury cars
1. Mercedes-Benz S-Class - 539
2. BMW 7 Series - 526
3. Lexus LS430 - 141
For the second year running, the 7 Series came tantalisingly close to toppling the S-Class from its perch, missing out on the top spot by only 13 units. The LS430 just edged the Jaguar XJ (127) into third place.

Small Multi-Purpose Vehicles
1. Hyundai Matrix - 4,929
2. Opel Meriva - 147
3. Renault Scenic - 95
It was a one-horse race in this class of five- and six-seater MPVs, with the affordably-priced Matrix facing little competition. But things could well change this year as Mitsubishi’s new Colt Plus comes on stream.

Large Multi-Purpose Vehicles
1. Toyota Picnic - 1,913
2. Honda Odyssey - 1,703
3. Mitsubishi Grandis - 1,001
Despite the Odyssey being the best-selling big MPV in the second half of 2004, the Picnic had too much of a head start and held on to its number one position. The facelifted Hyundai Trajet (959) also did well.

Sports Utility Vehicles
1. Hyundai Tucson - 806
2. Hyundai Santa Fe - 754
3. Lexus RX300 - 654
The first Tucsons only hit the road in late July but the car ended the year as Singapore’s favourite SUV. Among its Japanese rivals, the Honda CR-V (472) outsold the Nissan X-Trail (230) and Toyota RAV4 (236).

Coupes, convertibles and roadsters
1. Hyundai Tuscani - 345
2. Mazda RX-8 - 88
3. BMW 3 Series Coupe - 85
BMW’s 6 Series Coupe (83) and 3 Series Convertible (74), as well as the Mercedes-Benz SLK (73), were just outside the top three. Expect the new Honda Integra to steal some sales from the Tuscani in 2005.

Station wagons
1. Volvo V70 - 49
2. Ford Focus Station Wagon - 45
3. Volvo V50 - 43
As the figures show, there is still a (small) handful of buyers who appreciate the sheer practicality and saloon-like driving dynamics of station wagons. Unsurprisingly, two of the top three sellers were Volvos.