Mitsubishi's game boosts private Triton sales

This week's story on the cars private buyers choose threw up an intriguing anomaly.

The Mitsubishi Triton ranked third on the list, ahead of some of Australia's most popular passenger cars.

Workhorse utes are increasingly bought as family vehicles but they are predominantly bought by tradies, farmers and fleets.

According to the sales figures, 85 per cent of Tritons sold in the first three months of the year went to private customers. That compares with just 33 per cent for the Toyota HiLux.

The Triton even attracted a higher percentage of private buyers than the Mazda3.

Senior industry figures say the figures are rubbery.

They claim Mitsubishi pumped huge volumes of Tritons into dealerships in the first three months of the year, then offered generous incentives to dealers to meet lofty sales targets.

Critics argue that a large percentage of those Tritons were registered without buyers, inflating sales results.

FCAI figures are based on registrations rather than sales transactions

They say the maker was exploiting a loophole in the way the FCAI — the industry's sales monitor — keeps score.

The FCAI figures are based on registrations rather than sales transactions. That allows dealers to reach their sales targets — and collect bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — without finding a customer.

They then use those bonuses to fund big discounts to clear their overstocked yards, making it tough for Mitsubishi dealers who refuse to play the game. Without the bonus money, they can't match the discounts.

Mitsubishi says the spike in private sales is solely due to Triton being several thousand dollars cheaper than rivals.

Marketing boss Tony Principe says the ute's four-star rating made it tough to sell to fleets, so it chased retail buyers with sharp deals.

He admits the local arm ordered a "bucketload" of Tritons for the first quarter of this year and dealers may be getting "antsy" about stock. He maintains the figures are not rubbery.