SUVs Lead Way in Oz March Sales

Australians’ romance with SUVs boosted March vehicle sales 3.9% to 97,616 units, lifting the year-to-date result 4.7% to 260,122.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries says SUV deliveries rose 18.4% in March to 27,363 units for a first-quarter total up 23.4% to 72,934.

FCAI CEO Ian Chalmers says SUVs, combined with small and light passenger cars, make up 64.6% of new vehicles sold this year.

“While all categories of SUV have grown in sales, two passenger-car categories have also shown strong growth compared with 2011,” Chalmers says in a statement. “Medium passenger-car sales are up 17.7% (3,139 units) since the same time last year, while sales of sports cars have also sprung back with an increase of 31.2% (1,142).”

Chalmers says the data gives an overarching message: Australians will buy the cars that best meet their lifestyles, expectations and hip pockets.

Deliveries of locally manufactured vehicles increased almost 20% compared with like-2011. But large-car sales tumbled 27.4% for the month to 5,579 units, leaving the 3-month total down 21.0% to 15,555.

The passenger-car segment rose 1.9% in March to 51,161 units for a first-quarter uptick of 0.4% to 139,735. Light-commercial sales fell 9.1% for the month to 16,543 units for a year-to-date total off 8.0% to 40,904.

As usual, Toyota was the runaway best-performing brand in March with 18,461 deliveries, followed by GM Holden with 10,196 and Mazda with 9,345.

Toyota's HiLux had its best sales month since March 2011, when Japan was hit by a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. Production tumbled again when Thailand was hit by massive floods last fall.

With inventories back to normal, HiLux 4x2 and 4x4 were the top-selling vehicles in their respective segments in March with combined deliveries of more than 3,500 units, three times the January total and up 57% from February.

Camry sales, including the new-generation gasoline and hybrid models, rose 42.8% year-on-year. Toyota’s other double-digit percentage improvers were the FJ Cruiser, Prius, Yaris and LandCruiser 200 Series. The Yaris was the best-selling compact car, with deliveries rising 20%.

GM Holden showed solid growth in several segments in March, led by record performances by the Cruze and Captiva 5.

The locally built Cruze’s 2,880 deliveries made it the third highest-selling model in the small-car segment, with a 13.4% share and ranking fifth in the market overall.

The Commodore sedan dominated the large-car segment with 3,187 sales for March, good for a 62.5% share. The Commodore, once Australia’s biggest-selling model, was in third place for the month and year-to-date.

GM Holden’s SUV sales soared with the Series II Captiva 5 achieving its highest-ever March result with 501 deliveries, a 339.5% increase over like- 2011. Captiva 7 deliveries jumped 55.2% to 863.

GM Holden Sales Director Philip Brook says it was a tough March for the GM subsidiary, with the popular Colorado pickup nearly sold out and the next-generation model still a few months away.

The auto maker’s March result gave it a market share of 10.4% and raised sales to 28,945 units three months into 2012.

Mazda Australia, the country's top-selling full-line importer, capped a record first quarter with March deliveries of 9,345 units, 207 more than its previous record of 9,138 set last August.

The result was driven by strong demand for the all-new CX-5 SUV and BT-50 pickup truck, which saw monthly sales of 1,419 and 1,124 units, respectively.

The Mazda3, Australia's top-selling car last year, sold 3,818 units to achieve the top spot for March and for the quarter.

Nissan Australia saw a fourth consecutive month of sales increases with 8,317 deliveries. The March result boosted sales for the Japanese fiscal year ending March 31 to 69,678, up 6.2% from like-2011 and the auto maker’s best sales year since becoming a full importer more than 20 years ago.

Kia Australia continued its climb up the country’s new-car sales ladder with record monthly sales of 2,738 units, up 26.5% year-on-year. The result lifted Kia into the top 10 best-seller list both for March and for the first quarter, with 3-month sales rising 22.1% to 7,004.

Subaru’s new-generation Impreza and XV each delivered 1,002 units in March. The XV was the sales leader in the small-SUV under A$40,000 ($41,000) segment. The auto maker’s total of 4,004 deliveries gave it a 4.1% market share in March.