VFACTS: Market heads backwards in July

THE softening of Australia’s new-vehicle market continued in July, with year-to-date figures now in the negative for the first time in 2018.

 

According to official VFACTS figures released today, the January to July total of 691,073 is 0.2 per cent off the first seven months of 2017 when 692,306 vehicles had been registered.

 

While the market has been in positive territory so far this year, the growth has been steadily slowing each month, and July’s sales slide of 7.8 per cent compared with July 2017 has pushed it into the negative.

 

Traditional passenger cars continued to fall out of favour, dropping by 20.2 per cent last month, but SUVs also dipped by 1.0 per cent. Light-commercial vehicles were slightly ahead  last month by 0.1 per cent, with combined 4x2 and 4x4 pick-up sales ahead by 1.3 per cent.

 

Just four market segments grew last month, including micro cars (+31.8%), small SUVs (+3.4%), 4x4 pick-ups (+6.4%) and upper large SUVs (+4.1%). 

 

SUVs are now ahead of passenger cars by about 25,000 units year to date, and while medium SUVs are the biggest market segment YTD, small passenger cars were the top-selling segment in July.

 

Market leader Toyota took a 5.7 per cent hit last month, with the shift to an imported model still impacting Camry sales, which were down by 44.8 per cent, while other models experienced double-digit slides, including the Fortuner, Yaris, 86 and the Corolla.

 

Despite its slide, the Corolla still held onto third spot on the best-selling models list with 2594 units, ahead of the launch of the all-new hatchback this month, and the RAV4 had a bumper month, landing at seventh place.

 

The HiLux was again number one for overall model sales – it has held the top spot every month this year – with 3747 units shifted.

 

Mazda held onto second spot with 8920 sales, but its 6.4 per cent drop over July 2018 was because all of its models – except, oddly, the Mazda6 mid-sizer – were in negative territory last month.

 

The Mazda3 was fourth overall and the CX-5 SUV crept into fifth spot, while the freshly-launched CX-8 diesel seven-seat SUV added 220 sales to its bottom line.

 

Hyundai’s i30 hatch lobbed in sixth and the Tucson mid-size SUV scraped in to 10th place but the South Korean car-maker lost 5.9 per cent of sales following big slides from the Accent (-31.7%), iLoad van (-28.9%), Elantra (-19.9%) and Veloster (-50.3%). 

 

Mitsubishi only dipped slightly last month (-1.9%), with strong performances from the Pajero Sport and new Eclipse Cross, while Ford headed backwards by 12.6 per cent due to a slowdown for the Mustang, Everest, Fiesta and Mondeo.

 

Oddly, Ford sold three Falcons last month, meaning there may still be some leftover stock in dealers.

 

Kia was one of just three car-makers to increase its sales last month, but its rapid growth has slowed to 3.2 per cent over last July, while Nissan continued its turnaround with a sales increase of 4.1 per cent.

 

Volkswagen experienced the biggest sales growth last month of the top-10 players, with its haul of 3981 units a 4.7 per cent increase, helped by a massive month for the Golf (1628 sales, +62%) and Amarok 4x4 (720, +36.1%).

 

Holden’s disastrous sales continued in July, with a 39.3 per cent sales decline to 3927 units, enough to push it to ninth overall.

 

Huge sales drops for key models including the Astra (-47.7%), Commodore (-65.9%), Captiva (-63.6%) and Trax (-30.2%) didn’t help, nor did the small numbers for the Equinox medium SUV (271 sales), but it appears the Colorado is finally starting to fire after a renewed advertising push, with 4x4 sales up 12.0 per cent.

 

Subaru rounded out the top 10 on 3366 sales, but it was 21.1 per cent behind July last year.

 

In the premium segment, the big three Germans all experienced double-digit sales drops, with Audi down by 36.0 per cent, BMW dipping by 21.8 per cent and Mercedes-Benz Cars – which is still the premium segment leader year to date – dropping by 15.4 per cent.

 

Some of the lower volume premium brands, however, had a great month, with Alfa Romeo up by 39.4 per cent, Infiniti growing by 19.6 per cent and Volvo ahead by 34.7 per cent. 

 

Some of the biggest movers last month were Chinese brands LDV (+146.9%) and MG Motor (+538.6%), while Peugeot (+137.7%) is finally on the march thanks to the popularity of its new 3008 and 5008 SUVs.

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