SUVs Drive Oz January New-Vehicle Sales Up 2.7%

Surging sales of SUVs pushed Australian new-vehicle sales up 2.7% year-on-year in January to 84,373 units.

Releasing the figures, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Tony Weber says deliveries of SUVs rose 19.5% from a year ago to 33,073 units and this, along with an 11.9% jump in commercial-vehicle sales to 14,497, produced a particularly strong result.

“Combined, the segments accounted for more than 56% of the total new-car market,” he says in a statement.

Car sales, though, dropped 11.5% to 35,214 units.

Toyota was the top-selling brand in January with 14.8% of the market on 12,453 units, followed by Mazda with 11.9% (10,016), Hyundai with 8.3% (7,001), GM Holden with 8.1% (6,824), Nissan with 6.6% (5,563) and Ford with 6.5% (5,504).

Sales of locally built models fell to 4.9% of the market. For the first time, no Australian-made car made the list of top 10 best-selling vehicles.

The Holden Commodore led the local pack with 1,242 units, good for 15^th place.

The Mazda3 topped the January sales chart with 3,722 units, overtaking the Toyota Corolla at 2,758. They were followed by the Ford Ranger (2,418) Toyota Hilux (2,341) and Hyundai Tucson (2,065).

The Ranger result was up 35.5% year-on-year as the Australian-designed and Thailand-built pickup overtook its previously dominant Japanese rival Hilux for the third time in six months.

Toyota’s lead in a market it has dominated for years was driven by 4,341 SUV sales, up 16.1% from year-ago 3,740 units.

Mazda started the year with a record month, topping the 9,411 units it sold in January 2014.

Its January market share was a record high, as both the Mazda2 (1,381 sales) and Mazda3, with a record 23.5% market share in the small-car segment, topped their respective sales segments.