Sales subdued across ditch

Consumer demand for new vehicles remains subdued in Australia where there were 94,993 registrations in February, a drop of 9.6 per cent from 105,023 in the same month last year.

The decrease follows a 3.3 per cent year-on-year fall for sales in January, according to figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

The Toyota RAV4 topped the February sales charts across the ditch with 4,405 units followed by the Ford Ranger on 4,040 and Toyota Hilux with 3,616.

Next was Toyota’s Prado on 2,723 sales and the Mitsubishi Outlander with 2,385.

With three models in the top five, it was no surprise that Toyota was the leading marque last month with 18,832 sales. Mazda was second with 8,797 units followed by Kia on 6,707, Ford with 6,337 and Mitsubishi on 6,119. 

Tony Weber, FCAI chief executive, says February’s statistics show strong consumer preference for SUVs and light commercial vehicles, which had market shares of 60.4 per cent and 22.5 per cent respectively.

Sales in the passenger vehicle segment declined last month and accounted for 13.5 per cent of activity.

Weber, pictured, notes the industry was concerned battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales only had a 5.9 per cent market share, compared with 9.6 per cent in February 2024.

“We are now two months into the government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard [NVES], and while the supply of battery electric vehicles has risen dramatically, consumer demand has fallen by 37 per cent this year compared with the first two months of 2024,” he explains.

“We knew the supply of EVs would increase and there are now 88 models supplied to the Australian market.  

“However, our grave concern has always been the rate of EV adoption and what assumptions the government had made in its modelling around consumer demand for EVs in the NVES. 

“The easy part is to set aspirational targets but without consumers demanding EVs, the NVES will not succeed.”