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Thailand continues its upward trend as a ute and ute-based wagon manufacturer in line with new models and increasing Australian demand. Korea is also holding its strong pattern as being the main source of passenger cars and SUVs from Kia and Hyundai. England is up on imports from Nissan and Honda, while Finland – which hosts convertible car-maker Valmet – makes an appearance providing certain models from companies including BMW, Audi and Porsche.

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Building on the broadening of the core ute market and passenger cars from Ford and Honda, imports from Thailand have substantially increased in 2015. The losers include India, as Hyundai sources its i20 elsewhere, and Belgium, as Ford increasing looks to Thailand to build some versions of the Focus.

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Korea shows it is an automotive powerhouse by blitzing opposition centres when it comes to market share in Australia. Thailand also performs well thanks to its ute output while Germany upped its quota on Volkswagen’s Golf and Polo (some were formerly out of South Africa – note the drop in that country) and BMW models.

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Hyundai and Kia sales increase and new models have pushed up Korea’s share in Australia’s market. Utes and new wagons from Ford, Holden and Mitsubishi have done the same for Thailand. Notable falls are Poland and, as the country diverts manufacturing to the UK and Thailand, Japan which shows an 11,315 unit drop compared with the previous year.

By Neil Dowling