Aussie market shows no sign of slowing

Where will it end? The market continues to grow apace and August sales totalled 88,206 units. That's a 6545-unit/8.0 per cent improvement on August 2006.

Furthermore, the market built on the figure of 86,291 units for July, although seasonally adjusted figures show a drop of 5.8 per cent, according to VFACTS.

All market classes (passenger, SUV, light and heavy commercial) improved overall sales compared with August '06. As the top selling marque in the country, Toyota leads Holden by 55,837 units, year-to-date ('YTD').

After Holden, the top five places are filled by Ford, Mazda and Mitsubishi. Of the top ten marques, only Ford and Hyundai recorded both reduced market share and fewer cars sold in total, YTD.

Holden's Commodore was not only the top selling large car, it was the top selling vehicle right across the market. Its market share and unit sales figures have slipped by comparison with August 2006, but that was the month the VE model was launched, so the Commodore continues to sell consistently well in a segment that stagnated in August, compared with last year.

The Commodore's sales figures were 4899 for August '07, versus 4986 for August '06. Market share dropped slightly: 46.4 per cent to 44.9 per cent, YOY ('Year-on-year').

What gains in the large car segment Toyota's Aurion has made this year, have been largely neutralised by reduced sales of the Ford Falcon and Mitsubishi 380.

The Falcon remained the second best seller in the segment and almost achieved the 3000-unit monthly target, but fell short at 2973, over 700 units less YOY.

Aurion is doing well in third place, selling 1873 units for the month, adding to the YTD tally of 15,072 units -- almost 10,000 units better than the Camry V6 for YTD 2006.

Mitsubishi's 380 sold 658 units for the month, 400 units less than in August '06.

Over in the dog-eat-dog world of small cars, Corolla was the bull mastiff, on 4673 units. That's enough to take out the lead in the segment and place second for total market sales. Corolla's market share and unit sales have both grown since this time last year -- a reflection on the new model introduced earlier this year.

Mazda3 continued its strong showing with 2759 sales for the month, narrowly losing out to the Falcon for third place overall. Second place in the small car segment was some consolation, despite being slightly down on the August '06 performance for both market share and unit sales.

Honda Civic pushed ahead to take third in the segment with sales of 1854 units -- a substantial improvement on August '06 sales and further vindication of the YTD sales which also show a clear jump over the 2006 YTD figures.

Ford appears to have resolved some of its supply issues, with Focus selling 1683 units -- precisely one car less than in August '06.

Holden's Astra has lost both market share and unit sales for this month and for YTD, but the bigger disappointment for Holden would be the Viva, which, for this month is selling less than 60 per cent of the cars sold during August '06.

Winner in the light car segment by a massive margin is the Toyota Yaris, selling 2479 units for August. That's actually less than the figures for August '06, but YTD share and sales are both up YOY.

Has anyone noticed that the top selling cars in light, small, medium and large car segments are all 'segment-busters'? The Yaris is almost big enough to be a small car from ten years ago, Corolla is almost a medium-size car, Camry IS a large car that happens to be sold in the medium segment and Commodore has grown in size with the introduction of the VE model and is approaching the size of a Statesman from ten years ago.

Hyundai Getz was second best seller in the light car segment, but still almost a thousand units behind the Yaris -- and sales are down in respect of market share and unit sales for both the month and YTD. Right about now, Hyundai's probably looking forward to some new product coming through.

Holden Barina (1149) narrowly out-sold the Suzuki Swift (1124) for the month. Whilst the Swift's performance suggests sales are going from strength to strength, the Barina's performance seems more erratic.

Performance for the month was markedly better than in August '06, but YTD share and unit sales are both down, YOY. It almost seems like there was some internal sales incentive for Holden dealers to flog more Barinas during August.

Nothing else in the light car segment reached four-figure sales.

In the medium car segment, Camry took a bit of a dive for the month. Not that the Toyota's competitors will gain much solace from that. It still out-sold its nearest competitor (Mazda6, 840 units) by a factor of almost three to one.

Both unit sales and market share were down for the month YOY, but the Toyota's YTD figures show a major improvement over the 2006 figures.

Subaru Liberty placed third in the segment with 628 units and its sales performance for the month and YTD is quite consistent, YOY.

In the upper large segment, Holden Statesman (222 units) and Caprice (164) occupied first and second positions respectively. The Caprice has enjoyed some strong selling months during the year and the YTD market share is 27.9 per cent versus 28.0 per cent for the Statesman. This is considerably at odds with the 7.1 per cent market share of the old WL model Caprice for YTD 2006.

Ford must have done some arm-twisting with government fleet buyers and these hypothetical buyers purchased 57 units of the LTD -- that's twenty more units in one month than for the 2006 YTD period.

LTD wasn't Ford's biggest seller in the segment of course. That jersey goes to the Fairlane, with 130 units -- 23 units ahead of Chrysler's 300C.

Kia Carnival was the people mover to beat (402 sales), followed by the Toyota Tarago on 341 and Honda Odyssey on 165. Tarago had a good month, picking up 28.2 per cent market share, which is significantly ahead of the 24.5 per cent YTD share and the 24.3 per cent August '06 share. Odyssey is in a bit of a dive at the moment, both in respect of monthly and YTD share -- and corresponding unit sales.

Among the sports cars, Volkswagen Eos (100 units) pipped Holden Astra convertible (91) for top posi. The Astra Twin-Top is doing well this year, but the August '07 result was a bit of back-sliding for the Holden, compared with YTD figures. You don't have to look far to find the culprit. The initials are 'VW'.

Peugeot 207 CC (78) placed third in the segment on its first full month on sale.

For small cars over $40,000, the top three entries were MINI (203 units), Mercedes-Benz B-Class (170) and Audi A3 (136).

Mercedes C-Class (574 units) led the segment for medium cars above $60,000, followed by BMW 3 Series (433) and Lexus IS250 (373).

Top three large cars over $70,000 were Mercedes-Benz E-Class (144), BMW 5 Series (114) and Audi A6 (62).

Rounding out passenger cars, the top three entries for upper large contenders over $100,000 were Mercedes-Benz S-Class (40), BMW 7 Series (17) and Bentley (15).

Honda CR-V (1410 units) was the best selling compact SUV for the month -- and get this, it was the top selling SUV of any kind, outselling the Territory for the month. Market share for the Honda was also substantially up over the YTD average.

Toyota's RAV4 (1194 units) just beat the Subaru Forester (1179) into second place in the segment, but the Toyota's market share for the month was in decline, compared with both YTD and August '06 figures.

The Forester's August performance bettered the YTD share, but both 2007 figures are down on the 2006 figures, YOY.

It's in the medium SUV segment that it's all happening. Ford's Territory (1379 units) lost a lot of market share in one month and has been losing market share YTD, compared with 2006 -- but it remained the top selling vehicle in the segment.

Toyota's Prado placed second (1114 units), but the new Kluger was very close behind on 1075. Kluger's market share for the month was 16.2 per cent, compared with 6.9 per cent, YTD. Obviously a lot of pent-up demand for the new Kluger was satisfied during the month of August. Sales will probably drop back to more consistent levels next month. It all depends on whether Toyota can get the 'front-wheel drive base model' message out there.

In the large SUV segment, Nissan Patrol (363 units) continues to shadow the Toyota LandCruiser (379), but in the case of the latter, everyone is hanging out for the new 200 Series model due shortly.

BMW X5 (396 units) continues to hold sway in the luxury SUV segment with 22.0 per cent market share for the month. That compares very favourably with both August '06 and YTD figures.

Lexus RX is next on 225 units for the month, followed by Benz M-Class (178 units). In respect of market share, it was a poor month for the Mercedes, with just 9.9 per cent -- compared with YTD share of 12.3 per cent and August '06 share of 13.4 per cent.

Whipping through light commercials, the top selling vans were Toyota Hiace (574), Mitsubishi Express (274) and Mercedes-Benz Vito (153). Vito had a very good month for market share and the other two were consistent.

Toyota Hilux topped the 4x2 pick-ups with 1698 units sold and a fairly remarkable 29.7 per cent market share for the month. That's approximately three per cent ahead of YTD and nearly six per cent ahead of August '06.

Falcon Ute was second in the segment, on 1226 units and showing a gradual decline in market share, which is to be expected.

Nothing else in the segment broke the four-figure sales barrier for the month, but of note, Rodeo (third-placed on 665 units) out-sold the VZ Utes (650). Expect that situation to change drastically when the VE goes on sale.

4x4 pick-ups showed Toyota Hilux clearly in the lead with 2115 units sold for the month. A long way behind, but without the multiplicity of model variation that the Hilux boasts, came the Nissan Navara with 1173 units.

Third placed and almost breaking the 1000-unit threshold was the Holden Rodeo with 992 units for the month. Market share for the Rodeo was 14.1 per cent, which is a significant increase over both YTD and August '06 figures.

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