Bumpy ride for new vehicles
Fewer new vehicles were sold in July compared to the same month last year continuing the expectation that the overall market for the year will be down on 2018.
Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford says that for the month of July the number of new vehicle sales were 3.5 per cent lower than July last year.
He says overall year-to-date sales were down by 5.2 per cent on the first seven months of 2018.
“The trend for 2019 is a bumpy ride but overall downwards compared to 2018.”
Overall, July 2019 registrations of 11,897 vehicles were down 3.5 per cent, or 427 units, on the same month in 2018.
The market overall to the end of July is down 5.2 per cent, 4,825 units, on the first seven months of 2018.
Registration of 7,925 passenger and SUVs for July 2019 were down 1.4 per cent on 2018 volumes, and commercial vehicle registrations of 3,972 were down 7.3 per cent compared to July 2018.
Toyota remains market leader
Toyota remains the overall market leader with 18 per cent market share, followed by Ford with 9% (1,040 units) with Mitsubishi regaining the third spot with eight per cent market share.
Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 18 per cent market share, followed by Mazda with nine per cent, on 713 units and then Kia with seven per cent market share.
The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota Corolla followed by the Toyota RAV4, pictured above, and the Kia Sportage.
Commercial vehicle sales
Ford retained the market lead with 19 per cent market share, closely followed by Toyota also with 19 per cent, and Mitsubishi third with 11 per cent market share.
The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 17 per cent share, followed by the Toyota Hilux with 13 per cent share, with the Mitsubishi Triton in third with 11 per cent market share.
SUVs continue to dominate
The top three segments for the month of July were SUV medium vehicles with 20 per cent share followed by the Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 segment with 16 per cent share and the SUV Compact in third with 14 per cent market share.
Year to date, SUVs account for 43 per cent of the market and light commercials 41 per cent. The share of the passenger car market has fallen year to date to 24 per cent of the market.
This reflects a fundamental change over the last five years in consumers’ preferences for vehicles. In July 2014 the SUV share was just 30 per cent of the market whereas passenger vehicles accounted for 42 per cent market share.
