Rebates lift new-vehicle sales
The Motor Industry Association (MIA) reports sales of new vehicles during July were boosted by the rebates scheme introduced by the government at the start of last month.
There were 15,053 registrations compared to 12,263 in July 2020. This means the year-to-date market is up by 51.2 per cent – or 33,790 sales – compared to the first seven months of last year.
David Crawford, pictured, the MIA’s chief executive, describes July 2021 and the first seven months of this year as “the strongest on record”.
He adds the introduction of the clean car discount saw a lift in the sale of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), “while [petrol] hybrid sales remain strong”.
“Year to date, there are 2,377 passenger – not including light commercial vans – BEVs registered compared to the same period last year there were only 701 BEVs registered.
“Overall, July 2021 registrations of 15,053 vehicles were up 2,790 units, or by 22.8 per cent, on the same month in 2020. There were 760 BEVs, 431 PHEVs and 1,163 hybrid vehicles sold for the month.”
Sales of 9,984 passenger and SUVs for July 2021 were up by 21.8 per cent and 1,784 units when compared to the same month of 2020.
Commercial registrations of 5,069 represented a jump of 24.8 per cent and 1,006 units compared to July 2020. “This was a record month of July for commercials,” notes Crawford.
July’s top model was the Ford Ranger on 1,418 units. It was followed by the Toyota Hilux on 809 sales with Mitsubishi’s ASX third with 737.
Toyota topped July’s overall marques ladder for car and commercial sales combined with a market share of 16 per cent and 2,434 units. Next up was Mitsubishi with 13 per cent and 1,960 units. It was followed by Ford on 11 per cent and 1,728 sales.
Mitsubishi, however, was the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with a 14 per cent market share and 1,435 units. Toyota came second with the same percentage but 1,357 units. Suzuki was third on an eight per cent share and 791 units.
The top-selling passenger and SUV model for the month was the ASX. It was followed by Toyota’s RAV4 with 553 and Mitsubishi’s Outlander on 365.
Sales of commercials
Ford retained the lead in the commercials market with a 30 per cent share thanks to 1,546 sales. It was followed by Toyota with 21 per cent and 1,077 registrations. Mitsubishi came third with 10 per cent and 525 units.
The blue oval’s Ranger retained top spot in July with a market share of 28 per cent and 1,418 registrations.
It was followed by Toyota’s Hilux on 16 per cent and 809 units. The Mitsubishi Triton came third with 10 per cent and 489 sales.
As for segments, compact SUVs came first in July with a 25 per cent share of the market. Next up was the pick-up /chassis 4WD segment on 16 per cent and medium-sized SUVs with 15 per cent.
