Affordability Driving Record Oz Sales

With Australian car affordability the best it’s ever been, record June sales saw new-car deliveries near 600,000 units at the year’s halfway mark.

June sales rose 6.4% year-on-year to 125,850 units, for a 6-month total up 3.3% to 578,427 units.

June is the last month of the Australian financial year and traditionally a strong one for new-vehicle sales. This year’s result was up 34.8% on May.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Tony Weber says the strong growth is a result of attractive new-car prices and financing options.

“According to CommSec (stockbroker Commonwealth Securities), car affordability in Australia is the best it has ever been,” Weber says in a statement. “Coupled with offers such as capped-price servicing and low-interest rate finance, now is a great time for Australians to buy a new car.”

The SUV segment saw the highest growth in June with sales up 14.7% year-on-year to 42,256 units. The car segment rose 4.7% to 56,386 units, while the light-commercial-vehicle sector fell 3.1% to 23,758 deliveries.

While the SUV segment saw the most growth, small cars and LCVs dominated the top five. The Hyundai i30 was the top-selling car in June, up 70.2%  to 5,521 units, putting it ahead of the Toyota Hilux (4,281), Toyota Corolla (4,152), Mazda3 (4,127) and Mitsubishi Triton (3,526).

“We have seen new-car sales to business increase 10.5% (in June),” Weber says. “Specifically, business buyers purchased 20.8% more SUVs, 9.1% more passenger cars and 3.4% more LCVs.”

Sales to private buyers rose 3.7% and sales to government buyers rose 3.5%.

Toyota Australia remained the runaway top-selling brand in June with 21,508 deliveries for a 17.1% market share, ahead of GM Holden (9.5%), Mazda (9.2%), Hyundai (8.7%) and Mitsubishi (7.2%).

Ford finished in 6th place with 7,251 units in June. This gave it a 6-month total of 34,910 units, down 17.4% from year-ago’s 42,242 units.

Toyota’s first-half sales totaled 101,714 units, up fractionally from 101,105 a year earlier.

Toyota sees this year’s full result challenging the Australian record of 1,136,227 units.

“Annualized it now is possible for the 2015 sales year to be the best ever – some 20,000 vehicles ahead of the 2013 record,” says Toyota Australia Sales and Marketing Executive Director Tony Cramb.

Strong Demand to Continue

“June demand is traditionally high as a result of the end-of-financial-year requirement, especially in the business sector,” he says. “This year has been exceptional. All indicators are for strong demand to continue at levels equaling or even exceeding previous second halves.”

Mazda Australia sold a record 11,526 units in June, for a best-ever 6-month total of 56,591 units, up from the old mark of 52,287 units in 2013. It has posted record sales for four months in a row.

The Mazda CX-5 sold a record 2,512 units in June and leads the segment with 6-month sales up 13.5% to 12,489, the only SUV to pass 10,000 units thus far this year.

“The introduction of all-new or upgraded models over the last 18 months has helped us reach a best-ever monthly total,” says Mazda Australia Managing Director Martin Benders.

Hyundai broke its Australian monthly sales record with 11,007 units, almost 1,000 more units than the same month last year.

Subaru also boasted its best-ever monthly result with 4,502 units as the new Outback SUV posted record sales up 576% to 1,257 units.

The result made Australia Subaru’s second-largest international market outside Japan, behind Subaru of America.

“The reaction to our new Outback has been nothing short of phenomenal and it has created a substantial back order, so I am off to Japan next week to plead for more stock,” Subaru Australia Managing Director Nick Senior says in a statement.

Subaru’s first-half sales rose 8.4% to 21,659 units.

Volkswagen’s June sales of 7,103 units boosted its first-half result 12.1% to a record 32,020 units.

Managing Director John White says this was the result of substantial growth in key products, particularly the Golf, Polo and Amarok models.

Mitsubishi Australia’s year-to-date sales of 35,866 units, gave the company one of its best first-half import results in its 35-year history.

It set sales records for its LCVs (13,709) and SUVs (14,389) and was the number two brand across combined SUV and LCV sales in the first half with 28,098 units.

Mitsubishi Australia Marketing Executive Director Tony Principe says the company’s strategic focus on growth areas in the LCV and SUV segments and its continued strengthening of its product lineup is paying dividends.

“With SUV and LCV sales now accounting for about 54% of the Australian new-car market in year-to-date terms, it’s important we continue to focus on delivering a competitive range of products in these key growth areas,” Principe says in a statement.

Renault Australia sold 1,410 units, its best monthly tally since its return to Australia in 2001. It took Renault’s first-half sales to 5,697 units.

For the 2015 financial year, Renault sold a record 11,331 units – the best 12-month result by a French car company in Australia by a significant margin.

“With the addition of more dealer points around the country and a slew of exciting new models due in the medium term, we can feel very confident that our share of the Australian market will keep growing” Renault Australia Managing Director Justin Hocevar says in a statement.