Australia Sales Up, New Zealand’s Down in September

Australia’s new-vehicle market signals its continued recovery from the Japanese disaster supply disruption, rising 2.1% year-on-year in September to 86,819 units.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Ian Chalmers says two consecutive months of strong growth is an indicator parts supply from Japan’s earthquake- and tsunami-affected area is beginning to stabilize.

Commodore accounted for more than half large-car sales in month.

Year-to-date sales remain down 3.7% at 752,128 units.

Still, the FCAI is firm in its prediction Australians will buy 1 million new vehicles this year, even though Chalmers says the mark will be more difficult to achieve than in three previous million-unit years.

“Reduced sales in the second quarter of 2011 have set a challenging target for the final three months of the year, but industry resolve is high,” he says in a statement.

“Sales stimulus by means of competition in the marketplace saw the third quarter end strongly, and we are now looking toward continued growth through to the end of the year.”

New-car sales fell 2.2% for the month to 47,700 units. Sales of light-commercial vehicles grew 11.2% to 15,915 units in September, while heavy-vehicle demand rose 5.8% to 2,426 units, figures the FCAI suggests may be associated with improving business confidence and increased activity in the resources sector.

Toyota topped September with 17,378 units, ahead of GM Holden (11,009), and Ford (8,161).

Toyota’s Corolla was the best-selling model for the month with 3,766 units, edging out the Holden Commodore on 3,712.

New-car sales year-to-date are down 6.1% at 419,302 units. SUV are up 0.3% at 177,187 units, while light commercial sales are off 0.9% through September at 135,285 units.

Toyota says strengthening supply of vehicles from tsunami-affected Japan has helped it achieve its best September result in three years.

Toyota’s monthly performance was its best since March, when it was hit by the effects of Japan's natural disaster.

“A massive effort by the factory has been instrumental in clearing backlogs, sometimes by providing far more models than normal allocation,” Sales and Marketing Executive Director Matthew Callachor says in a statement.

He says Toyota is continuing to seek more supply from Japan to meet demands of an aggressive fourth quarter and has begun a major sales and marketing thrust in anticipation of strong competition in a still-buoyant market.

“There is a lot of unrequited demand for new vehicles and the fourth quarter is likely to be one of the most competitive ever,” as all brands return to full capacity, he says.

GM Holden is celebrating its Commodore and Cruze locally made double act. The Cruze marked its fourth consecutive month above 3,000 units, while the Commodore accounted for more than half of large-car sales.

Hyundai posted its best-ever September sales result since the brand was introduced to Australia in 1986. It finished the month in fourth place with sales up 22.7% to 7,508 units for a market share of 8.6%.

The news was not so good across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, where September new-car sales were down 9.7% year-on-year to 5,684 units, leaving the 9-month total at 47,621 units.

Commercial-vehicle sales rose 18% for the month to 1,944 units, taking the year-to-date total to 16,169 units.

“In spite of all of the supply constraints, the new-vehicle market is still ahead on a year-to-date basis in both the passenger-car (up 4%) and commercial-vehicle (up 16.5%) segments,” Motor Industry Assn. CEO Perry Kerr says in a statement.

“The industry has had a bumpy ride but has managed to meet market demands. There is still some catch-up in the market so hopefully sales will remain positive for the last quarter of the year,” he says.

Toyota topped new-car sales with 990 units, ahead of Holden (578) and Hyundai (493). The commercial-vehicle segment also saw Toyota on top with 553 units, well ahead of Mitsubishi (215) and Holden (177).

With supplies of Toyota’s Corolla resuming, the model led car sales with 367 units for the month to push it back to No.1 year-to-date with 2,456 units.