Oz Sales Fall But Record Remains in Sight

Falling car sales pulled Australia’s new-vehicle result down 1% year-on-year in October to 93,357 units, but the industry says the market remains on target for a record 2016.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries says car sales fell 7.4% to 37,817, with SUVs rising 4.9% to 36,442 and the light-commercial segment up 0.4% to 16,098.

With two months left in the year, Australia’s vehicle sales are ahead 2.4% from like-2015 at 980,433 units. The FCAI says the 23,280-unit increase from last year keeps the industry well on track to overtake last year’s record 1,155,408 deliveries.

Through 10 months, the car segment is down 6.0% to 404,020 units, while the SUV market is up 9.4% to 368,545 and the LCV segment is ahead 10.1% at 180,780.

FCAI says sales to private buyers fell 3.5% in October, but business purchases rose by 2.6% and sales to government 5.1%. Rental-fleet sales declined 12.9%. The significant gain in buyer type by volume was in SUV sales to business during the month, which lifted 9.6%.

FCAI CEO Tony Weber says the sales difference between cars and SUVs nationally closed to its smallest margin yet in October – 1,375 units – reflecting the continued strong growth in both SUVs and LCVs, which together accounted for 56.2% of the October sales.

“The gap between the two is narrowing by the month and should this trend continue, it is likely that SUVs will become the larger segment sometime in the foreseeable future,” Weber says in a statement.

The October result was also notable for two LCVs leading the national market for the first time – the Toyota Hilux with 3,352 units, just 135 ahead of Ford Ranger. Just seven sales behind the Ranger was the Toyota Corolla (3,210), ahead of the Hyundai i30 (2,718) and Mazda3 (2,191).

Toyota remained the market leader in October with 16,348 units for a 17.5% market share. Hyundai took second with 8,704 units, ahead of Mazda (7,921), GM Holden (7,521) and Ford (6,508).

Year-to-date, Toyota’s lead is insurmountable at 171,523 units, well clear of second-placed Mazda (98,621), Hyundai (86,512), GM Holden (78,833) and Ford (67,914).

The big battle for annual model supremacy is between Toyota’s evergreen Corolla and its HiLux, with the result expected to go down to the last selling day in December.

With just eight weeks remaining in 2016, the two Toyota vehicles are neck-and-neck at the top of the national sales charts, separated by 21 units.