THE region's motor dealers expect this year to be better than last.

The Ireland family opens a $3 million new Holden showroom next month with upgraded administration, service and parts areas.

Joint managing directors Richard and David Ireland anticipate showroom traffic to increase with people checking out the electric Volt car while a new VF Commodore, the mid-sized Malibu sedan and a small Trax SUV are due later this year.

Their other brands Mitsubishi, Jeep, Chrysler Dodge and Isuzu trucks will continue to grow as well.

Richard Ireland said the economy was improving with the car market strong and leading the way.

He said small cars such as the Holden Cruze and the Mitsubishi Lancer were proving to be the most popular.

Westco Motors general manager Chris Lukosius said 2012 was a successful year for the business with growth of more than 15 per cent.

"We look forward to a very exciting and busy 2013," he said.

"All of our four franchises had significant growth over 2011.

"Mazda 3, like the national result, was our best seller among our four brands and BMW was by far the market leader in Cairns in the luxury segment.

"We have planned for further significant growth in 2013. We believe we can increase our sales some 20 per cent.

Nissan has a significant amount of new product arriving in 2013 headed by the all-new Pulsar and Patrol which will go on sale in February.

"Mazda has just released the amazing new Mazda6 and further growth will come via an increase of supply across the whole range.

"Volkswagen continues to grow and 2013 forecasts are significantly higher for 2013.

"While BMW has little product to be released in the first half of 2013, we will see a significant increase in sales in the 3 Series range and the X3 Series models.

"We have increased our sales staff by 30 per cent and improved our sales systems to ensure we cater for the increased market share we will have with our four new vehicle franchises." Trinity Auto Group general manager Richard Jaska said 2013 would be better than last year.

He said the first quarter last year was "challenging."

"We did, however, sell a good amount of vehicles (new and used) over the course of the year. We achieved good growth year on year 2011-2012," Mr Jaska said.

"This year is again forecasted to grow on 2012. We expect to see all of our franchises improve on 2012's result."

The entire Hyundai range was the biggest seller for Trinity.

"Hyundai are aiming for big things and the range is certainly in line with market expectations," Mr Jaska said.

"Ford was a big surprise for us. Considering the tough time we had with supply issues and the slump in Falcon sales, our Ford sales held their own especially on the back end of the year. I believe the Ford range still offers the best value for money in a lot of its market segments.

"We are also expecting Opel to jump out of the blocks and get on the shopping lists of a lot of customers  good quality German engineering for a reasonable price.

"We are very excited to see its impact on the European and small car market in Cairns.

"We also are expecting some growth in inquiry for Mercedes-Benz, our new state-of-the-art showroom will certainly interest a lot more people to pop their head in and see our fantastic facility and wonderfully stylish Mercedes-Benz range."

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