SUVs dominate new sales

SUVs and light commercials continue to dominate new-vehicle sales in Australia and accounted for more than 80 per cent of the market last month.

There were 98,328 registrations of new vehicles across the Tasman last month making it the second-best August result on record, according to new figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

This was down by 10.6 per cent, or 11,638 units, from 109,966 in the same month of 2023.

Tony Weber, FCAI chief executive, says last month’s result was positive in historical terms with it being the second-highest August in Australia. 

“The outlier in the data is the 2023 number which broke the previous best August result, set in 2017, by 13.8 per cent. Year to date the market is up by 5.3 per cent,” he explains.

Weber, pictured, notes consumer preferences are demonstrated with the passenger segment representing only 15.4 per cent of the total market. Meanwhile, the SUV sector accounted for 57.5 per cent of activity and light commercial vehicles 22.9 per cent.

Toyota’s RAV4 was the leading model last month with 6,712 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger on 5,431 and the Toyota Hilux with 4,496.

Completing the top five was the Isuzu Ute D-Max on 2,548 registrations and Toyota’s Landcruiser with 2,504.

As for the marques’ ladder, Toyota was top with 21,490 sales in August. Next was Ford on 8,890, Mazda with 8,263, Kia on 6,903 and Hyundai with 6,211. 

“Consumers continue to embrace low-emission vehicles with hybrid sales up 44.9 per cent on August 2023 while sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles are up 119.8 per cent,” adds Weber.  

“However, in line with the experience in many global markets, sales of battery electric vehicles are disappointing.  

“This is despite the supply of battery electric vehicles increasing significantly with more brands and EV models having entered the Australian market.”