July vehicle stats confirm Toyota's domination

Toyota continues its stranglehold on the Australian new vehicle market -- that’s the news to come out of the latest figures published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

In the July year-to-date (YTD) FCAI new vehicle sales statistics (VFACTS), Toyota continued to dominate the marketplace with 21.7 per cent share and 121,596 vehicles sold year to date. This figure was more than 36,000 units up on Holden whose market share slipped marginally to 15.3 (85,528 units).

In comparison to the same time last year, Toyota is 7205 vehicles up while Holden is 18,750 behind its YTD July 2005 total. A measure of the Japanese brand's strength is its lead over Holden -- more than the total number of vehicles sold YTD by fifth-placed brand, Mitsubishi!

Toyota's results come in a market that was 'wobbling' in the face of a new financial year, higher fuel costs and interest rate concerns. That said, the July 2006 industry volume of 77,562 was down just 1079 vehicles or 1.4 per cent on July 2005 (78,641). It was, however, rolled back significantly compared to the bumper near 100,000 unit end of financial year performance of June.

According to FCAI, the passenger vehicle market fell by just 218 vehicle sales (-0.4%) over the same month last year. SUV’s were down 3.9 per cent, the light and heavy commercial markets both off 2.0 per cent.

Looking at the passenger market year to date in more detail, at 344,246 vehicles it is down 2.7 per cent. Mixed results by segment show that while increases were returned by, the Light (+21.4%), Small (+3.7%) and Peoplemover (+3.0%) segments, the Large, Medium, Sports car and  Upper Large car segments were down 22, 5.7, 9.7 and 2.1 per cent respectively.

Of the SUV marketplaces, only the Luxury segment was up – up substantial 13.2 per cent! The SUV Medium segment was down 12.3 per cent with SUV Large and Compact off 23.8 and 1.6 per cent respectively.

Overall, Ford grabbed number three spot YTD behind Toyota and Holden with 12.5 per cent share (69,904 vehicles). The full July 2006 YTD top ten reads:

Marque               Volume         Share
Toyota               121,596         21.7
Holden                85,528         15.3
Ford                   69,904         12.5
Mazda                37,709          6.7
Mitsubishi           31,750          5.7
Honda                31,733          5.7
Nissan                31,179          5.6
Hyundai              28,436          5.1
Subaru               21,846          3.9
Kia                    12,791          2.3