VFACTS: Growth continues in September

A CHANGE in prime minister has had little impact on consumer confidence, with Australia’s new-car market lifting by 3.6 per cent in 2015 year-to-date sales, and another record haul likely by the year’s end.

Australian buyers snapped up 101,392 new vehicles in September, a 6.8 per cent improvement on the same month in 2014, with both passenger car and SUV sales increasing by 2.0 and 23 per cent respectively. Light-commercial sales, however, took an 8.7 per cent dip.

Just three of the top-10 brands recorded losses last month, including market leader Toyota, which fell by 7.2 per cent for a haul of 16,594 units, while Ford slipped by 6.5 per cent compared with the same month last year to record sales of 5823 units, and Nissan dropped by 4.4 per cent for 5242 sales.

Toyota’s updated Camry was the most popular Australian-built car last month, grabbing fourth spot with 2522 sales, just ahead of the Corolla in third with 3530 sales.

Strong interest in Mazda’s SUV range, and a solid debut month for its MX-5 sportscar saw it lift by 14.4 per cent last month to record 10,864 sales.

The Mazda3 snared second spot in the overall sales last month with 3588, and the CX-5 grabbed seventh place on 2321, while the CX-3 crossover also starred, finding 1482 homes and topping the sales in its sub-$40,000 small-SUV segment.

GM Holden clawed back third place overall in September with 9326 sales – a 9.1 per cent lift – after falling behind Hyundai in August, but the South Korean car-maker is still ahead of the General in year-to-date sales by about 600 units.

The Captiva 5 and 7 were up by 94.2 and 32.5 per cent respectively on the back of aggressive retail campaigns last month, while slow sellers in Holden’s range also lifted, including the Colorado 7 SUV (409 units, up 131 per cent), the Caprice sedan (239 sales, up 100.8 per cent) and the Malibu mid-sizer (143 sales, up 40.2 per cent).

The locally built Commodore lost 10.2 per cent in September to hold onto sixth place overall, but the arrival of the refreshed VF Series II in showrooms this month – the final update to the last-ever Australian-built family car – is expected to lift interest.

Hyundai increased its sales over September 2014 by 5.8 per cent for 9311 sales, with its i30 topping the individual model sales charts for the second time this year, with a whopping 4490 units shifted, thanks in part to a $19,990 driveaway deal.

The i30 topped the charts in June with a record 5521 sales, which was again driven by a $19,990 driveaway retail campaign.

Mitsubishi had a strong September, with 6937 sales representing a 14.4 per cent lift, which was enough to hold onto sixth place for the month and stay ahead of Ford in year-to-date-sales by 1832 units.

A number of Mitsubishi SUVs experienced big jumps last month, including the ASX crossover, up 38.2 per cent, the Outlander lifting by 32 per cent and the run-out Challenger up by an incredible 392 per cent to notch 556 units.

The Triton scraped into ninth spot, edging out the dominant Toyota HiLux, which scraped in at number 10 in run-out mode ahead of the new model that launched last week. Ford’s Ranger outsold both to land in fifth.

Ford’s Mondeo mid-sizer is finally firing, with sales lifting by 36 per cent last month for 377 sales, while the Falcon also improved, growing by 20.3 per cent for the sedan and 11.1 per cent for the Ute.

The Australian-developed Everest is only officially on sale in October, but Ford found 261 homes for the hulking off-roader last month.

Overall, Ford was down 6.2 per cent, while seventh-placed Nissan lost 4.4 per cent last month, despite the continued popularity of the Qashqai (up 27 per cent to 773) and X-Trail SUVs (up 50.6 per cent to 1334).

The diesel emissions cheating scandal that has plagued Volkswagen has not had an impact on sales yet as the news only broke in late September next month’s sales tally will be more telling as to whether Australian buyers have lost trust in the German brand.

VW grew 14.7 per cent over September 2014, with strong Golf sales ensuring an eight overall placing.

Subaru’s Outback and Liberty continue to fire, helping the company achieve a 13 per cent boost last month, while Honda rounded out the top 10 on 3595 sales, representing a 32 per cent lift thanks again to its HR-V crossover and Jazz and City light cars.

Of the other mainstream brands, Kia had an exceptional month with a 44.7 per cent increase over September 2014 to 3002 units, while Suzuki lifted by 9.7 per cent on the back of interest in its new Vitara.

Renault (+18.3), Isuzu Ute (+51.8), and Skoda (+38.8) were also up, but Jeep fell sharply (-26.8).

Once again, premium brands were responsible for some of the biggest sales increases last month, with luxury market leader Mercedes-Benz increasing its lead with a 29 per cent lift last month for 3065 SUV and passenger-car sales.

Strong results from the car-maker’s compact range, notably B-Class, GLA and CLA, kept Benz ahead, while the C-Class continues to dominate the premium mid-size segment, and on 7409 sales for the year, trails only the Camry in the overall sector sales.

Combined sales of the outgoing ML-Class and its GLE replacement even outpaced the dominant BMW X5, 381 sales to 330.

Far from left behind, BMW and Audi lifted by 14 and 26 per cent respectively, with the 2 Series Coupe/Convertible (+129 per cent) and 1 Series (+151.1) lifting for BMW, while the new Q7 (+225.4) and refreshed Q3 (+128.3) helping Audi along.

A number of other premium brands recorded strong September sales, including Porsche (487, +130.8 per cent), Volvo (449, +47.7 per cent), Infiniti (55, +52.8 per cent) and Jaguar (170, +39.3 per cent), on the back of interest in its new XE, which outsold the Audi A4 last month by 26 units.

Top 10 selling brands September 2015

Brand	Sales	% Variation
Toyota	16,594	-7.2
Mazda	10,864	14.4
Holden	9326	9.1
Hyundai	9311	5.8
Mitsubishi	6937	14.4
Ford	5823	-6.5
Nissan	5242	-4.4
Volkswagen	5124	14.7
Subaru	3621	13
Honda	3595	32

Top selling models September 2015

Model	Sales
Hyundai i30	4490
Mazda3	3588
Toyota Corolla	3530
Toyota Camry	2522
Ford Ranger	2471
Holden Commodore	2348
Mazda CX-5	2321
Volkswagen Golf	2085
Mitsubishi Triton	2020
Toyota HiLux	2004