VFACTS: Local cars steady in October

FORD Australia continued its sales resurgence in October despite producing its last locally manufactured cars at the beginning of the month, according to official VFACTS sales figures released today.

The Blue Oval was one of just four brands in the top 10 to record a rise in sales last month, lifting by 6.7 per cent compared to October last year for a haul of 6508 units.

Once again it was led by the consistently popular Ranger ute, which was the second best-selling vehicle in Australia with 3217, just seven units ahead of the Toyota Corolla.

In their last month of production, both the Falcon and Territory remained steady, with the big SUV down just 1.3 per cent with 588 sold, while the iconic Aussie-built sedan found 428 homes, a drop of just 1.6 per cent over last October.

Despite double-digit percentage drops for EcoSport, Everest, Kuga, Fiesta and Focus, the big numbers for the Ranger as well as solid results for the Transit van range, Mondeo mid-sizer and Mustang sportscar kept Ford ahead of last year.

The other Australian-made car that ended its local production run last month, Holden’s Cruze, also recorded strong sales, with buyers snapping up 1198 examples – a 17 per cent boost – before it is replaced later this month by the European-sourced Astra hatchback.

The Commodore, which will end local production late next year, retained its top 10 status despite a 6.3 per cent dip, but the facelifted Colorado ute started to claw back some ground on the back of a major marketing campaign with a combined 4x2 and 4x4 total of 1358.

Overall Holden sales took a 7.2 per cent hit in October, with the new Trailblazer, Trax and Commodore Ute providing a few bright spots, while Mazda also dipped by 7.2 per cent with 7921 units, keeping it behind Hyundai which recorded 8704 sales, down 3.3 per cent.

Mazda was only in positive territory with the resurgent new CX-9 SUV (up by 260 per cent), 4x2 BT-50 (up 14 per cent) and the MX-5 drop-top (up 7.8 per cent), which beat out the mechanically related Abarth 124 Spider in its first month of sales, 97 units versus 77.

Toyota led the market again with 16,348, a drop of 3.6 per cent, with its light-commercial range in positive territory against drops for a number of key models.

Hyundai took second spot with 8704 units and three entrants in the top 10, including the i30 hatch (2718), Accent light car (2009) and increasingly popular Tucson mid-size SUV, which had a strong month finding 1845 homes.

Nissan leapfrogged Mitsubishi to grab sixth spot despite drops of 7.0 and 5.1 per cent respectively, while Volkswagen has started to claw back some sales, rising by 8.7 per cent to achieve 4896 sales.

Subaru was steady in ninth, up 0.7 per cent, while Kia continued to rise, with a massive 23.6 per cent increase over last October for 3543 sales, just keeping Mercedes-Benz (3477) and Honda (3404) at bay.

Benz continues its run towards another record year, and a possible year-end tally north of 40,000 units, with 30 per cent growth last month on the back of impressive hauls for the CLA, C-Class and new-gen E-Class as well as the GLA and GLC crossovers.

BMW and Audi dipped by 10 per cent apiece but remain ahead in terms of year-to-date sales compared with last year by 15 and 5.0 per cent respectively.

Lexus continued its growth, lifting by 7.0 per cent to record 923, its best October result in nine years.

Overall the 93,357 tally for the market last month was 1.0 per cent off October 2015, but it remains ahead year-to-date by 2.4 per cent.

Passenger car sales continued their decline, dropping 7.4 per cent against growth of 5.0 per cent for SUVs and 0.4 per cent for light commercials.

Sportscars and large cars were the only passenger segments in positive territory last month, while the only SUV market to dip was the small segment, dropping 5.4 per cent.

In the LCV segment, 4x4 pick-ups took a 4.1 per cent hit and 4x2 workhorse were down by 0.3 per cent, but Elsewhere in the sales charts, resurrected Chinese brand Great Wall recorded 11 sales of its Steed pick-up, while its SUV sister brand Haval captured 61 sales.

Renault lifted by 42.7 per cent thanks to a strong first month of Koleos sales (200 units), while the Megane also lifted thanks to the new-generation model, finding 117 homes.

The other French brands, Peugeot and Citroen, continued to slide, down 50 and 30.4 per cent respectively.

Top 10 selling brands October 2016

Brand	Sales	Variance %
Toyota	16,348	-3.6
Hyundai	8704	-3.3
Mazda	7921	-7.2
Holden	7521	-7.2
Ford	6508	+6.7
Nissan	5543	-7.0
Mitsubishi	5227	-5.1
Volkswagen	4896	+8.7
Subaru	4140	+0.7
Kia	3543	+23.6

Top 10 selling models October 2016

Model	Sales
Toyota HiLux	3352
Ford Ranger	3217
Toyota Corolla	3210
Hyundai i30	2718
Mazda3	2191
Toyota Camry	2135
Holden Commodore	2101
Hyundai Accent	2009
Hyundai Tucson	1845
Nissan X-Trail	1655