Could it be that everyone was just so focussed on the footy finals during September? Well no, probably not; small car buyers are not necessarily football followers -- but that's not to say there isn't some overlap.
Light car sales were up for the month -- with over 10,000 units sold -- but market share for Toyota's Yaris was down, compared with year-to-date (YTD) and September 2006, Year-on-Year (YOY).
Top sellers for the month were:
Toyota Yaris, 2140 units, 21.9 per cent market share of the segment
Hyundai Getz, 1757 units, 18.0 per cent market share
Holden Barina, 1067 units, 10.9 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Mazda2 in fifth (after the Suzuki Swift); 896 units for the new model, equating to 9.2 per cent market share, versus 6.1 per cent YTD for the old car.
Corolla remains ahead in small cars and in a slower month for the little tackers (more here), the Toyota's market share was on par with its YTD figure.
Top sellers were:
Toyota Corolla, 3561 units, 20.7 per cent market share
Mazda3, 2677 units, 15.6 per cent market share
Holden Astra: 1441 units, 8.4 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Subaru Impreza in sixth place (after Focus, Tiida and Civic); 1144 units and 6.7 per cent market share for the new model, compared with 4.8 per cent YTD for the old Impreza.
Medium cars took a hit, YOY, although market share as a component of the passenger car class remains consistent with YTD figures.
Top sellers were:
Toyota Camry, 2173 units, 37.4 per cent market share
Mazda6, 917 units, 15.8 per cent market share
Honda Accord Euro, 687 units, 11.8 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Holden Epica in fifth place (after Subaru Liberty); 357 units and 6.1 per cent market share -- a drop in sales for the month, but an improvement in market share versus the YTD figure of 4.1 per cent.
Large cars were slightly down, but most of the difference YOY was felt in the sector above $70,000.
Top sellers were:
Holden Commodore, 4525 units, 42.5 per cent market share
Ford Falcon, 2852 units, 26.8 per cent market share
Toyota Aurion, 1585 units, 14.9 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Mitsubishi 380 in fourth place; 1045 units and 9.8 per cent market share -- the only volume-selling large car to enjoy improved sales for the month, YOY, and with more market share for the month than either YOY or YTD.
Upper large cars remain a Holden procession and Ford's LTD has dropped back to its usual lowly sales status after selling nearly sixty cars last month.
Top sellers were:
Holden Statesman, 295 units, 41.0 per cent market share
Holden Caprice, 203 units, 28.2 per cent market share
Ford Fairlane, 126 units, 17.5 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Lexus LS460 with 30 units sold for the month and 33.0 per cent market share for vehicles above $100,000 -- that's over 20 per cent of the sales for the entire year so far.
People movers improved slightly, YOY, but market share dropped back marginally, YTD.
Top sellers were:
Kia Carnival, 426 units, 37.7 per cent market share
Toyota Tarago, 366 units, 32.4 per cent market share
Honda Odyssey, 111 units, 9.8 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Volkswagen Multivan with just 29 units sold but a staggering 36.7 per cent of people movers over $55,000 -- market share YOY was 18.5 and YTD is 25.1
Sportscars picked up a little for September.
Top sellers were:
Volkswagen Eos, 191 units, 22.3 per cent market share
Holden Astra Convertible, 142 units, 16.6 per cent market share
Saab 9-3 Convertible, 90 units, 10.5 per cent market share
Honourable mention: BMW 3 Series coupe and convertible with 238 units sold, accounting for 41.6 per cent of the sports cars between $80,000 and $200,000 -- an amazing improvement over 62 units sold YOY and 19.6 per cent market share for 2006.
Compact SUVs are where all the small car sales went in September -- or a goodly proportion of them, at least.
Top sellers were:
Toyota RAV4, 1125 units, 15.8 per cent market share
Nissan X-Trail, 1100 units, 15.4 per cent market share
Subaru Forester, 1012 units, 14.2 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Land Rover Freelander sold 84 units for the month and netted 1.2 per cent of the market, against 11 sales for September '06 and 0.4 per cent share YTD. Still going great guns following the release of the new model in June.
Probably the most interesting and almost the most closely contested segment this month, the medium SUV segment is charging ahead, helped by new entries since this time last year. The new Kluger was barely twenty units away from overtaking Ford's Territory as the most popular SUV in the country.
Top sellers were:
Ford Territory, 1273 units, 20.1 per cent market share
Toyota Kluger, 1251 units, 19.7 per cent market share
Toyota Prado, 972 units, 15.3 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Has to go to Kluger. On top of scoring second, the new model is showing signs of sustained sales potential in the longer term and quadrupled the number of old model Klugers sold YOY.
SUV Large was the most closely contested segment for September, even though there are only four entries, one of which (Ford's Explorer) is only represented because it was still on sale earlier this year. Jeep Commander (18 units) sells a tiny number of vehicles, but top spot in the segment was shared by the Nissan Patrol and the Toyota LandCruiser -- both selling 334 units for the month. That was a substantial change of fortune for the Toyota, YOY, but there's a new model due this month.
In the SUV Luxury segment, sales were up, YOY and YTD.
Top sellers were:
BMW X5, 356 units, 20.9 per cent market share
Lexus RX, 217 units, 12.7 per cent market share
Mercedes-Benz M-Class, 201 units, 11.8 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Porsche Cayenne, for selling 51 units in September with 3.0 per cent share of the segment -- a mild improvement in market share, YTD, but a substantial gain in YOY sales of 17 units for September '06.
For vans, sales were marginally ahead of this time last year.
Top sellers were:
Toyota Hiace, 558 units, 34.4 per cent market share
Mitsubishi Express, 261 units, 16.1 per cent market share
Volkswagen Transporter, 170 units, 10.5 per cent market share
Honourable mention: The Transporter has improved sales YOY by 49 units and picked up market share from 7.7 per cent YOY and 8.0 per cent YTD.
As for vans, 4x2 pick-ups showed a small improvement in sales, YOY. Sales of the VZ Commodore-based Ute have slowed to a trickle (434 units), in the lead-in to the release of the VE model range.
Top sellers were:
Toyota HiLux, 1439 units, 27.0 per cent market share
Ford Falcon, 1054 units, 19.8 per cent market share
Holden Rodeo, 727 units, 13.6 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Ford Ranger, with sales for the month of 562 units and 10.5 per cent market share, was exactly 200 units ahead of Courier sales for September '06.
In a prospective record year for sales, that performance was reflected in sales of 4x4 pick-ups. In September, with over 1300 extra units compared with the segment's sales for September 2006, sales amounted to 6896 units in total.
Top sellers were:
Toyota HiLux, 1987 units, 28.8 per cent market share
Nissan Navara, 1173 units, 17.0 per cent market share
Mitsubishi Triton, 1120 units, 16.2 per cent market share
Honourable mention: Ford Ranger again. As in the 4x2 segment, it sold substantially better in September '07 (637 units) than the Courier did the same time last year (237). Market share is up, both for the month (9.2)and YTD (6.7).
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