The year 2006 saw a record number of new vehicle launches for Holden including the all new VE Commodore, WM Statesman and Caprice and more recently, the sports utility vehicle Captiva and all recorded strong results.

The Holden Statesman became the best selling Upper Large car (under $100K) with a 32.4% share and when combined with the Holden Caprice - which achieved its highest ever sales result - claimed 50.2% of the segment.

The Captiva, launched only three months ago, was the third best selling medium SUV in December with an 11.5% share with sales continuing to grow.

Figures released recently by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showed that the overall automotive market had declined slightly, in 2006 by 25,603 units on 2005, with all segments down except for Heavy Trucks.

Holden sold 146,511 vehicles and delivered a 15.2% market share. Holden had the second highest sales overall, behind Toyota with 213,847 sales and 22.2% market share, but well ahead of Ford with 114,965 sales and 11.9% market share.

In the fiercely competitive passenger segment, Holden sold 108,932 vehicles in 2006 for an 18.1% market share.

Holden’s four cylinder market continued to grow in 2006 with Barina recording its best results on record with 13,635 units sold - an increase of 40.9% on 2005.

Astra, which welcomed the launch of its new diesel variants, remained one of the top 10 best selling nameplates in Australia and Holden’s second biggest seller with 19,681 sales. Combined with Viva, Holden accounted for 14.7% of the small car market.

Holden dominated the Sports segment (under $80K) by offering the best selling sports range which included the now discontinued Monaro, Astra Convertible and Tigra with a 24.5% share of the segment.

The VZ and newly released VE Commodore variants sold 56,531 units in 2006, and although down on 2005, maintained an outstanding segment share of 43.4% of the Large car market (under $70K), a 1.8% increase on last year and over 14,000 units clear of its nearest rival.

Holden Executive Director - Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, Alan Batey, said Holden’s results reflected a very optimistic outlook for 2007.

“2006 has been a huge year for us, never have we launched so many cars in one year and we are incredibly pleased with how well they have been received,” Batey said.

“Since the VE Commodore was launched in July 2006, we’ve experienced the strongest model mix and V8 penetration in Commodore’s history which is an excellent result and one that certainly bodes well for the future."

“And we now have a true SUV competitor that’s making a real impact. The SUV segment is an incredibly important one and we’ve been waiting a long time to get the right SUV for the Australian market."