Australian Light Vehicles Set October Sales Record

Small cars, SUVs and light commercials drove Australia’s new-vehicle market up 2.6% in October to a record 95,763 units, topping the month’s old mark set in 2012.

The industry’s statistical service VFACTS says the month saw two small cars and an LCV as the top three sellers, reflecting a surge in demand within those segments.

SUV sales edged up 1.2% in October to 36,871 units. The car market fell 3.8% to 36,396 units, despite a 9.7% jump in demand for small cars to 18,428.

LCV deliveries soared 18.5% to 19,087 units.

Year-to-date sales were 0.5% ahead of last year’s record at 984,931 units, with monthly records set in six of the 10 months.

Year-to-date, cars were down 6.9% at 376,355 units, with SUVs up 4.3% at 384,469. LCVs were ahead 7.4% at 194,385 units on the back of strong market demand for all-wheel-drive cab-chassis models, up 25.2% at 13,155.

Both business (+19.1%) and private (+15.6%) LCV sales were strong during October.

Within the SUV segment, the star performers for the month were in the small category (up 12.6% at 10,008 units) and medium category (up 6.1% at 15,700).

With local production now just a fond memory, Japan was the biggest source of imported vehicles with 27,062 units in October, followed by Thailand (22,826) and South Korea (15,395).

Toyota remained the market leader with a record 17,836 deliveries in October for an 18.6% market share. Hyundai surged into second place with 8,800 units, followed by Mazda (8,054), GM Holden (7,726) and Ford (5,785).

The Hyundai i30 was October’s best-selling model with 3,983 units, followed by the Toyota HiLux (3,812), Toyota Corolla (3,088), Ford Ranger (3,074) and Holden Commodore (2,418).

With 10 months completed, Toyota dominated the market, its 180,681 sales up 5.3% year-on-year and giving it an 18.3% market share. Mazda was a distant second with 97,917 units, ahead of Hyundai (82,050), GM Holden (70,172) and Ford (66,250).

The result left Toyota just eight weeks away from claiming the sales trifecta with Australia’s best-selling automotive brand, best-selling vehicle and best-selling car. It would be the 21^st time Toyota has topped the Aussie market, including the past 15 consecutive years.

The HiLux led the race to be the best-selling vehicle for the second straight year with a margin of more than 3,300 units. Demand for the pickup is at record levels with sales up 14.2% at 39,041 units.

The Corolla had a lead of more than 4,300 units for the crown as Australia’s best-selling car, for the fifth year in a row.

Mazda’s next-gen CX-5 led the SUV segment, breaking its October record with deliveries up 6.7% at 2,173 units for a 3.2% increase year-to-date at 21,360.

Subaru recorded its 34th consecutive month of sales growth with an October result up 12.7% to 4,667 units for a year-to-date total ahead 13.2% at 44,114.