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Fourth record year in a row

Posted on 08 January, 2018
Fourth record year in a row

New vehicle registrations hit an all-time new record in 2017 - the new vehicle market performed significantly well and greatly exceeded 2016's record.  A total of 159,871 new vehicle registrations were recorded for the stellar 2017 calendar year. Registrations for the 2017 year increased by 9.0 per cent or 13,118 units compared to 2016. David Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association says, “a continued robust tourism sector, which in turn drove healthy sales of rental vehicles, helped to make the month of December the strongest on record with 11,570 new vehicle registrations.” Registrations in both the passenger and commercial sector grew compared to last year - with registrations of new passenger/SUV vehicles and commercial vehicles up by 5.8 per cent and 16.2 per cent, respectively. Toyota remained market leader for the month of December, with a 26 per cent share, this was followed by Holden and Mitsubishi, with 10 per cent and 8 per cent shares correspondingly. Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with a significant 29 per cent market share followed by Holden with 8 per cent closely followed by Mitsubishi with 7 per cent market share. The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota Corolla, with 1,116 registered, of which 1,011 were rentals. This was followed by the Toyota RAV4 and the Mitsubishi ASX. In the luxury sector passenger and SUV sector, Mercedes-Benz retained the 2017 market leader spot with 2,540 registrations, followed by Audi with 2,060 registrations and BMW with 1,954. In the commercial sector, Ford was the market leader with 19 per cent followed by Toyota with 17 per cent.  The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model, four years in a row, with a 17 per cent share (597 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with a 13 per cent share (442 units) closely followed by the Holden Colorado also with a 13 per cent share (439 units). For the third year in a row, the Ford Ranger remained the top model overall with 9,420 registrations compared to 8,106 for the Toyota Hilux and 7,797 registrations for the Toyota Corolla. Vehicle segmentation for the 2017 year reflects the changing patterns of new vehicle registrations with SUV’s and light commercials dominating the market. The small vehicle segment only breaking into the top five spots with a 12 per cent share. The top two segments for the year were SUV medium vehicles with 17 per cent share (26,515 units) followed by the Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 segment with 14 per cent (22,175 units). SUV large and SUV compact round out the top five spots with 11% each of the market. “Distributor expectations for 2018 indicate maintenance of current levels of activity, but further steady growth in the new vehicle sector above 2017 outturn is not expected.” said Mr Crawford.