VFACTS: Oz market still on track for million units

AUSTRALIA’S spate of strengthening new car sales has continued in June with 110,664 vehicles reported delivered last month, marking a marginal 0.4 per cent improvement over the corresponding month last year, equating to 430 extra units being shifted.

While the improvement may not be huge on a month-on-month basis, the year-on-year difference for the year ending June is far more significant, the market currently up 28.3 per cent, or 125,053 units.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber said the results were consistent with this time of year as dealers look to offload expiring model years through end of financial year specials.

“Expectations for a strong result in June had remained high given the traditional end of financial year demand from business and private buyers driven by government incentives such as the extension of the depreciation allowance announced in the federal budget coupled with intensive marketing activity from vehicle brands,” he said.

“In spite of some states being forced into COVID-19 lockdowns towards the end of June, the acquisition of a new vehicle remains a popular option for buyers across all market segments.”

As usual it was Toyota that claimed the biggest slice of the market; its 21,076 sales netting it a 19 per cent share of the total market, comfortably besting Mazda and its 12,225-unit effort (11 per cent share).

Ford returned to the sales podium with 8456 sales (7.6 per cent share), turning the tables on Kia (7890/7.1 per cent) after the South Korean brand usurped it for third last month.

Kia compatriot and sister brand Hyundai finished June in fifth with 7357 sales (6.6 per cent share), some 1716 units clear of Mitsubishi in sixth (5641/5.1 per cent).

Volkswagen continued its month-by-month march up the charts having finished April in ninth and May in eighth to post 4674 sales in June, netting it seventh place with a 4.2 per cent market share.

Chinese success story MG meanwhile made a triumphant return to the top 10 with 4303 new deliveries (3.9 per cent share), well clear of Nissan (4036/3.6 per cent) in ninth – the Japanese brand being unable to maintain or improve on its run of consecutive seventh places.

Isuzu Ute Australia (IUA) notched up another solid month, rounding out the top 10 with 3964 sales (3.6 per cent) – consistent with the 3946 vehicles it shifted in May.

What makes IUA’s effort even more noteworthy is that it only has two vehicles in its entire line-up – D-Max and MU-X – and yet it got within 75 units of outselling Nissan, a brand with nine models in its portfolio. 

Even then, the bulk of IUAs’ sales were contributed almost exclusively by the D-Max (3167) that finished third last month in terms of the most popular models, beaten only by the ever-dominant Ford Ranger (6058) and Toyota HiLux (5412).

Behind the D-Max, the Mazda CX-5 flew the flag as the best-selling SUV in fourth with 3018 sales while the Kia Cerato (2711) defied the downward trajectory of the passenger car market to finish fifth for the month.

Sixth and seventh both went to Toyota; its Prado and RAV4 SUVs chalking up 2610 and 2501 sales respectively, while the Hyundai i30 crept up from tenth in May to eighth last month with 2331 deliveries.

The opposite happened to the Mitsubishi Triton, which slipped from seventh to ninth (2240) while the Toyota Corolla rounded out the top 10 with 2175 sales.

Despite the light-commercial lockout of the top three positions and a respectable contribution from the Triton, it was once again SUVs that proved the dominant force within the market, accounting for 53,761 out of the month’s total 110,664 units, or 48.5 per cent.

Unlike the Kiwi market that favours compact SUVs, it was the mid-sizers that ruled the high-riding roost here in June – 16,603 (medium) vs 15,265 (large) vs 14,700 (small).

Behind the SUVs, light commercials contributed 28,550 sales compared to the 23,361 fronted by passenger cars.

In terms of electrified vehicles, 6686 were purchased in June with hybrids still making up the bulk of the numbers (5842), leaving the balance to be made up by the 526 battery-electric vehicles (BEV) and 318 plug-in hybrids (PHEV).

Mr Weber said that while “the delivery challenges caused by microprocessor shortages and bottlenecks in the supply chain” were “yet to be fully resolved”, he expected demand for new vehicles to remain strong in the second half of the year and still surpass the million-unit mark.

“It is our expectation that these issues will begin to be resolved as the global economy continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.”

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