Ouch! Honda, Mercedes-Benz and three other brands that saw their sales decline in 2021, can they make a difference in 2022?

Honda had the biggest drop in sales of any major brand, down 39.5% from 2020.

For many people affected in one way or another by COVID, 2021 has been a year of oblivion.

Judging by the data on new car sales in 2021, some automakers would like to forget about it too.

While last year's sales results were big winners, sales for some brands were down due to production delays, inventory shortages, and more. Let's take a look at the brands that had a clear average in 2021.

Honda

The biggest loser of the major brands last year was undoubtedly Honda. Sales fell 39.5% to just 17,562 units, leaving the Japanese automaker in 15th place.^th place in total sales behind the growing Chinese brand GWM.

Just five years ago, in 2016, Honda sold just over 40,000 vehicles, and in 2020 it moved the mark below 30,000 units. It used to be the top 10 brands.

So what happened?

On July 1 last year, Honda Australia moved from a traditional dealer model to an agency model in which Honda Australia, rather than the dealers, owns and controls the entire fleet.

It switched to a nationwide exit pricing system for its entire lineup to get rid of the dreaded haggling when buying a car. At the same time, prices for most existing models have risen.

The next generation Civic arrived late last year in one high-end VTi-LX trim starting at $47,000. That's far more than even semi-premium offerings like the Volkswagen Golf, not to mention traditional competitors like the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla. Now it is closer in price to the BMW 1 Series, Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz A-Class.

Some models have been discontinued, such as the Jazz light hatchback and the Odyssey passenger car, although the latter can still be found in stock.

Sales of all models fell by double digits, with the best-selling CR-V down 27.8%. The small SUV HR-V also dropped 25.8%. MG sold more than three times as many ZSs as the Honda HR-V.

Honda anticipated this drop in sales as a result of its changes. It says it is still in a "transitional phase" and expects average annual sales in Australia to be 20,000 units.

Instead of direct volume, the company points to improved customer service and customer experience after moving to an agency model.

The Citroen C4 only arrived in the last quarter but found 26 homes.

Citroen

This result is less surprising than Honda's. Citroen has struggled to gain a foothold in Australia for over a decade and last year was no exception.

Citroen ended 2021 with just 175 sales, down 13.8% from 2020. The result was so low that Citroen lost out to the exotic brands Ferrari (194) and Bentley (219). The French brand just outsold the recently discontinued brands Chrysler (170), Aston Martin (140) and Lamborghini (131).

Citroen sells three models in Australia, and one of them, the unusual new C4 hatch/crossover, went on sale just last quarter. A total of 26 C4s were sold, but sales of the C3 light hatchback were up 87 percent. However, this was a very low baseline, with only 88 units registered for the year.

The C5 Aircross SUV fell 35% to 58 units. This car's refresh is due this year, with Citroen and the new C5 X crossover scheduled for late 2022, but it's hard to imagine they'll have a major impact on sales.

Interestingly, sister brand Peugeot increased its sales by 31.8% to 2805 sales last year.

While sales of the Stelvio (left) fell heavily, the Giulia had a positive year.

Alfa Romeo

The iconic Italian brand, which is also part of the same Stellantis empire as Citroen, had a disappointing 2021 with sales falling 15.8% to 618 units.

Alfa Romeo no longer sells the Giulietta hatchback after it ceased production at the end of 2020, so the company lost volume there. In '84, he still managed to find 2021 homes for a sports hatchback.

Sales of Giulia sedans were actually up 67.4% to 323 sales, enough to outpace the Jaguar XE (144), Volvo S60 (168) and Genesis G70 (77), but well behind segment leader BMW 3 Series (3982). .

The Stelvio SUV fell 53.6% to 192 sales after a Cassino plant in Italy was hit hard by a semiconductor shortage. It is now the best-selling non-electric model in the premium midsize SUV segment and is sold by the Genesis GV70 (317).

E-Pace sales fell over 17% in 2021.

jaguar

Another premium brand, Jaguar, also suffered last year, with sales falling 7.8% to 1222 units. This was partly due to a shortage of semiconductors.

Last year, it was announced that Jaguar would be phasing out all current internal combustion engine models and transitioning into an ultra-luxury electric vehicle brand to compete with Bentley later this decade. It is not clear if this announcement affected sales.

Australia's best-selling small SUV, the E-Pace, fell 17.2% to 548 units, while sales of the larger F-Pace SUV rose 29% to 401.

The F-Type sports car, the I-Pace electric SUV, and the XF sedan sold about 40 units each, while the XE sedan recorded 144 sales.

The best-selling Benz, the A-Class, fell 37 percent last year. (Image credit: Tom White)

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz Cars has had a very mixed year in 2021, with sales of some models dropping significantly while others seeing significant increases.

Bulk models such as the A-Class (3793, -37.3%), C-Class (2832, -16.2%) and GLC (3435, -23.2%) are all behind, but the GLB (3345, +272%), GLE (3591, +25.8%) and G-Class SUVs (594, +120%) are heading in the right direction.

Overall sales of Benz vehicles fell 3.8%, but Mercedes-Benz vans were hit the hardest.

The German giant's commercial vehicle division fell 30.9% to 4686 units last year due to declining sales of Vito vans (996, -16.7%), but the biggest hit was the loss of X-Class sales after stocks ran out. in 2020.