Oz SUV Demand Sustains LV Sales Growth in August

Australian new-vehicle sales rose 6.2% in August to 93,552 units, driven higher by an apparently insatiable demand for SUVs.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reports SUV deliveries jumped 18.6%, compared with year-ago, to 26,216 units, pushing the industry’s 8-month total up 30.0% to 203,316.

The strongest growth was in the small SUV segment, surging 61.5% to 15,637 units.

The latest results boosted the Australian market 9.4% year-to-date to 728,047 units and comfortably on track to beat the 1 million-unit mark for the year.

On the downside, the FCAI says government new-vehicle purchases continued to weaken, with drops in monthly and year-to-date sales across all segments. “Overall, governments bought 22.5% less vehicles in August this year than they did in August last year,” the group says in a statement.

“Similarly, governments have bought 9.7% (about 3,800) less vehicles during the eight months of 2012 than they had for the same 8-month period in 2011.”

Business signaled its confidence in the local economy, increasing purchases of light- commercial vehicles 19.1% in August to 18,045 units, carried by a 38.2% gain in the 4x4 pickup/cab chassis segment and a 30.9% rise in the light-truck segment.

The result left 8-month LCV deliveries up 8.3% to 128,945 units.

Passenger-vehicle sales slipped 3.7% in August to 46,612 units, but the segment remained 1.2% ahead of year-ago at 376,084.

The FCAI says sales of locally manufactured vehicles totaled 91,360 units year-to-date, up 1.0% from a little more than year-ago’s 90,000.

Local production of 156,116 units through the first eight months climbed 2.8% to 151,859.

For the fifth month in a row, the Toyota Hilux pickup was Australia’s top-selling model with 4,010 units, followed by the Mazda3 (2,990), Toyota Corolla (2,945), GM Holden Cruze (2,628) and Holden Commodore (2,435).

As usual, Toyota led the overall market in August with 17,996 deliveries, comfortably ahead of GM Holden with 11,271 and Ford with 7,795.

The result meant almost one in five new vehicles bought in Australia last month was a Toyota, as the Japanese market leader claimed a 19.2% share of sales. Toyota models topped 10 market segments.

Sales and Marketing Executive Director Matthew Callachor says the latest returns pushed Toyota’s year-to-date sales up 24.4% to 141,811 units.

The new-generation Camry and Camry Hybrid were clear leaders in the midsize-car segment, with combined sales improving 25% to 14,853 units.

Callachor says in a statement the overall Australian vehicle market remains buoyant.

“SUV and 4x4 ute sales continued to be the big drivers of the market in August, and the ongoing boom in their popularity is emerging as the big car-market story of 2012,” he says.

Record Holden Captiva deliveries and solid performances by locally produced Cruze and Commodore models contributed to a 12.0% share for GM Holden in August.

The auto maker capitalized on booming SUV demand with 1,497 Captiva 7 sales and 17.2% segment share, making the 7-seat SUV the top-selling vehicle in its category last month. It also sold 847 Captiva 5s in August, with combined Captiva 5 and Captiva 7 deliveries totaling 2,344 units.

The Cruze remained the GM subsidiary’s top-selling car in August, with 2,628 units and 13.7% of the fiercely contended small-car segment. The Commodore maintained dominance of the large-car segment with an almost 50% share on 2,435 sales.

GM Holden Sales Director Philip Brook says the 0.5% finance offer on a range of Holden vehicles in August was a great success.

Year-to-date, Holden was second in the market to Toyota with 76,390 units and a 10.5% share.

Elsewhere, segment-topping performances by the Mazda3 small car (2,990 units) and CX-5 SUV (1,679) helped Mazda Australia post its second-best ever August result with 7,685 vehicles delivered. Mazda has sold 67,769 units year-to-date for a 9.3% share and third place.

Mazda2 deliveries totaled 1,157 units in the month, and the B-segment small car now has sold more than 1,000 units for 39 months in a row and in 56 of the past 59 months.

The Fiat Chrysler group continued to break sales records for the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands with 13,014 deliveries year-to-date. The auto maker delivered more vehicles through the year’s first eight months than it did in all of 2011, when volume totaled 11,931.

On a monthly basis, the group’s U.S. brands jumped 73% to 1,979 units. The top sellers were the Jeep Grand Cherokee (686), Compass (286) and Cherokee (242). Wrangler deliveries were down slightly due to supply shortages.