HONDA is racing ahead in the sales stakes and is now in the No 2 spot among members of the Motor Traders Association of Singapore (MTA), after claiming the No 3 position just last year.

Toyota is still Singapore's most popular make among MTA members after the first nine months of 2007 - a position it has been enjoying since 2002. From January to September, authorised distributor Borneo Motors sold a total of 13,822 Toyota or Lexus cars. Lexus is the luxury division of Japan's biggest car maker.

But today, Toyota is looking at a very different competitor just below it. Where Nissan used to reside as the runner-up for five consecutive years, Honda is now comfortably ensconced. In the first nine months of this year, authorised distributor Kah Motor registered 8,567 cars.

Nissan, on the other hand, had 7,850 units in the same period. Nissan, which had been runner-up to the Toyota juggernaut for five consecutive years, was overtaken by Honda in early August.

This is the second time in two years that Honda has surged ahead in the MTA rankings. In July 2006, it overtook Hyundai for the No 3 spot and ended the year by finishing in the top three, after Toyota and Nissan.

In 2006, the top three makes were Toyota, Nissan and Honda, in that order. Last year's all-Japanese line-up was achieved after Honda edged out Hyundai from its traditional third place.

For 2007, it looks like Team Japan will make a further improvement by sweeping the top four positions because the current No 4 spot is occupied by Mitsubishi, which sold 6,544 cars. It has displaced Hyundai, which has fallen to No 5 with just 4,515 cars sold. Even if its 1,778 Sonata taxis are included, Hyundai's grand total of 6,293 is not enough to beat Mitsubishi.

The traditional price advantage which Hyundai models used to enjoy has been eroded by a move upmarket as well as the stronger Korean won. These factors allowed entry-level Japanese alternatives like the Nissan Sunny and Mitsubishi Lancer to race ahead on the weaker Japanese yen.

Not unexpectedly, Honda and Mitsubishi were among those makes which also posted an increase in market share among MTA members.

Honda's year-to-date market share of 13.5 per cent is a 2.6 per cent improvement over the same period last year, while Mitsubishi's 10.3 per cent market share is 1.6 per cent higher.

An estimated 63,600 cars were sold by MTA members from January to September.

Toyota's market share continues to slip but the juggernaut's huge base means it is in no danger of losing its market leader status. For the first nine months of 2007, it had a market share of 21.7 per cent, down 3.8 per cent over the same period in 2006. This means that about one out of every five cars sold by MTA members is either a Toyota or Lexus.

But compared to four years ago, this proportion is down from what used to be almost three out of every 10 new cars.

Just last year, Toyota accounted for 25 per cent of the 98,699 units sold among MTA members. An ageing model line-up and aggressive marketing by parallel importers are among the reasons for its diminishing volumes.