SUV sales surge
Overall national sales of SUVs continued to climb in October, despite the overall vehicle market in Australia declining over the month, according to the latest data released today by the motor industry’s statistical service, VFACTS.
National vehicle sales for October reached 90,718, down 5.3 per cent from October 2017. The overall market decline for the month was led by falling passenger car sales, at 27,802 or 23.6 per cent lower in October 2018 compared to October 2017.
Overall national SUV sales were 39,849, and the SUV segment now represents 43.9 per cent of the market in October 2018 and 38.5 per cent of the market year to date. Within the SUV segment, the sales of medium SUVs holds the greatest volume with 18.1 per cent of the total market in October 2018. The sales of small SUVs increased by 14.1 per cent in October 2018 compared to October 2017 with this category now representing 12.6 per cent of the total market in October 2018.
Year-to-date sales across the market are currently at 971,723, which is a 1.3 per cent dip from the same period in 2017 – which was a record year.
Sales in October fell across all states and territories compared to October 2017, other than Tasmania, which held firm with a 0.3 per cent increase.
The decline was again most pronounced in sales to private purchases, which were down by 12 per cent across all vehicle types for the month compared to October 2017. This included falls in passenger sales to private buyers of 24.1 per cent, whilst private SUVs sales were down by 3.2 per cent and light commercial sales down by 4.3 per cent. Year-to-date sales to private buyers is now down 6.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2017.
While business purchases overall were also down on October 2017 sales, business purchases of SUVs increased by 13.3 per cent over October 2017 and light commercials increased by 3.4 per cent over the October 2017 sales numbers.
Government purchases were up 6.7 per cent in October 2018, with increases of 24.3 per cent in SUV purchases and 9.3 per cent in light commercials.
Tony Weber, the chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), acknowledged the ongoing softening in sales as the market continues to adjust after record sales over recent years.
“Total sales so far in 2018 are a modest 1.3 per cent below the same number during the 2017 record year. This demonstrates that the market is broadly holding firm, despite evolving consumer preferences demonstrated through the shift from passenger vehicles to SUVs," said Weber.
“Given the slowing housing market and the current drought, the overall result demonstrates the resilience of Australia’s competitive automotive market.”
The Toyota Hilux was the highest selling vehicle in October 2018 with sales of 4401, followed by the Ford Ranger (3511), the Toyota Corolla (2663), the Mazda 3 (2094) and the Hyundai i30 (2049).
Toyota led the market in sales volume for October with 19.6 per cent of the total market, followed by Mazda (9.0 per cent), Hyundai (8.2 per cent), Mitsubishi (6.9 per cent) and Ford (5.9 per cent).
