VFACTS: 2019 sales slump eases in July

THE Australian new-vehicle market’s plunge this year eased in July, however year-to-date sales are still down thanks to factors including tighter financial lending, luxury-car taxes and the federal election, according to official VFACTS data.

New-vehicles sales totalled 83,184 units last month, representing a 2.8 per cent drop over July 2018, while overall year-to-date sales have fallen 7.7 per cent to 637,650 units.

While June sales easily outpaced that of last month, with 117,817 thanks to end-of-financial-year sales, its figure represented the largest monthly decrease for the year, with a 9.6 per cent decline over the same month in 2018.

In July, passenger cars were the hardest-hit segment with an 11.1 per cent dip, while the SUV and heavy-commercial segments fell by 3.5 and 4.5 per cent respectively.

The light-commercial-vehicle segment did the best job of stemming the bleeding with a fall of only 1.9 per cent, or 325 vehicle sales.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber said that despite a positive performance compared to June, the market was still slow, which resulted in positives such as competitive deals.

“The July sales figures continue to illustrate the tough market conditions facing the Australian automotive industry and the sensitive nature of the economy over the past 12 months,” he said.

“Tight financial lending, drought, increasing luxury-car tax imposts and the federal

election have all contributed to make the Australian car market one of the toughest in

the world.

“But it is great news for the consumer who is spoiled for choice with attractive new-car

offers as automotive brands provide excellent deals to stimulate sales growth.”

As per usual, Toyota bested all comers with its 17,876 sales representing a 5.7 per cent year-on-year lift and a 21.5 per cent market share – more than double that of second-place Mazda.

Just as common as seeing Toyota at the top of the sales charts is its HiLux ute finishing as the best-selling vehicle for the month, with the perennially successful model managing 3359 sales despite a year-on-year dip of 10.4 per cent.

Toyota claimed three of the top four best-sellers with the Corolla small car experiencing a 25.1 per cent increase to finish second with 3244 sales, while the RAV4 mid-size SUV jumped by 30.5 per cent to finish fourth with 2419 units.

Two other Toyota models finished in the top 10, including the LandCruiser wagon that finished eighth with 1885 units (-0.9%) and the Prado large SUV that finished in 10th position with 1620 units (+13.0%).

Mazda captured second place with 8227 sales (-7.8%), helped by two models appearing in the top 10 – the sixth-placed CX-5 mid-size SUV and seventh-placed Mazda3, however both models dipped by 3.3 and 22.5 per cent respectively.

Hyundai finished third with a relatively steady 6983 sales (-1.1%), while the i30 small hatch did the heavy lifting for the Korean brand, registering 2252 sales (+3.4%) to finish fifth overall.

Mitsubishi captured fourth place with 5247 sales despite an 11.2 per cent skid and no models in the top-10 sales list.

Fifth place went to Ford with 4900 sales (-10.6%), thanks largely to its Ranger ute that was the country’s third best-selling vehicle with 3168 units – an increase on the 2950 it registered last July.

In sixth place, Kia sales rose 2.3 per cent to 4506 units, led by the Cerato small car that climbed 20.7 per cent to 1723 units, while Nissan followed close behind with 3864 sales, down 10.7 per cent.

Volkswagen held eighth place with 3609 sales (-9.3%), while Subaru rebounded strongly with 3513 sales (+4.4%), thanks to the easing of production issues from Japan.

Rounding out the top ten, Holden’s sales slide continued with 3266 units, down 16.8 per cent, pushing out Honda who seventh place in June.

Among the premium brands, Mercedes-Benz Cars led the way with 2792 sales (+25.7%), ahead of BMW (1758, +4.5%) and a sluggish Audi (858, -36.5%).

Top 10 selling brands June 2019

Top 10 selling models June 2019