Singapore's three most popular makes in 2006 were all Japanese, as Honda displaced traditionally third-placed Hyundai to round up the top three positions and install its Civic as the fifth most popular model.

For the fifth consecutive year, Toyota was the clear market leader, with 24,696 passenger cars - including those from luxury division Lexus. Singapore's No. 1 marque accounted for 25 per cent of the 98,699 units sold last year among members of the Motor Traders Association of Singapore (MTA).

The Toyota Corolla Altis was also Singapore's top model, with 10,910 units sold. It accounts for 44.2 per cent of all cars registered by authorised distributor Borneo Motors and is more than all the cars sold by Honda agent Kah Motor last year.

Including non-MTA members and parallel imports, an estimated 117,000 cars were registered by the Land Transport Authority in 2006.

In second place last year was Nissan, with 14,756 passenger cars for a 15 per cent market share. Honda came in third with 10,823 units.

Korean carmaker Hyundai had occupied the No 3 or No 2 spot since 2002, but it slipped to No 4 as early as end-July 2006 when the 6,380 Hondas registered by the end of the first seven months overtook the 6,211 Hyundai units.

And Honda has stayed in the triumvirate ever since, thanks to strong orders for the eighth-generation Civic. Interestingly, when the seventh-generation Civic was launched in 2001, it also pushed Honda into third spot while relegating Hyundai to fourth position. Last year, the Civic's strong performance resulted in 5,239 units registered, the first time it has accounted for about one in two Honda cars sold here. Previously, Civic sales made up only 30-40 per cent of total volume.

'The Civic's contribution has risen substantially because of its new styling and significantly higher equipment level,' explains Kah Motor product manager Vincent Ng. 'Together with its pricing and size, this new model fits perfectly the requirements of upgraders from the 1.6-litre class.'

The Civic was initially launched last January with 1.8 and 2.0 engines. In September, a 1.6 version became available.

Hyundai slipped to fourth position with 10,013 passenger car units. Its most popular model was the Getz mini, with 2,972 or 30 per cent of total sales.

But more surprising was the performance of the Verna saloon, which came in as Hyundai's second most popular model with 2,330 units or 23.3 per cent. Starting from $41,999 for a 1.4-litre manual, its attraction is its good styling and higher specifications.

But in general, Hyundai's traditional price advantage was eroded by the stronger Korean won, which allowed Japanese alternatives like the Nissan Sunny and Mitsubishi Lancer to race ahead on softer COE premiums and a weaker Japanese yen.

As a result, Mitsubishi powered ahead in 2006 with 8,658 units sold. Of that, the Lancer accounted for 6,639 cars, or a whopping 76.7 per cent.

So while the ageing Sunny remained strong, chalking up 6,646 units to become Singapore's second most popular model yet again, the Lancer came in a close third, thus edging the Toyota Vios with 6,442 units into fourth position.