June VFACTS: Utes up, market down

End of financial year deals in June failed to prevent Australia’s new-vehicle market posting its third monthly sales decline in a row and its biggest so far this year (-3.4 per cent).

Once again, the industry’s only bright spots last month -- when all of the top-10 brands except Mitsubishi, Kia and Honda sold fewer vehicles than in June 2017 – were medium SUVs (+6.5%) and 4x4 utes (+4.7%).

And once again Toyota’s HiLux was Australia’s top-selling new vehicle last month (5788 sales), even if the big growth came from fleet-friendly 4x2s.

More than 1000 units behind was the Ford Ranger (4768), volume-selling 4x4 versions of which were down almost five per cent, followed this time by the Mitsubishi Triton 3917), which soared into third place on the back of a near-36 per cent spike in 4x4 sales. Stronger Holden Colorado sales made it four utes in the top 10.

Toyota’s Corolla (3780) continued its reign as the nation’s most popular new car, followed by the Hyundai i30 (3547), which once again got the better of the Mazda3 (3327).

Kia’s new Cerato (2485) scraped into the top 10, just ahead of the Volkswagen Golf (2317), displacing Mitsubishi’s evergreen ASX.

But ahead of them in seventh and eighth respectively were Australia’s top-selling SUVs, the new Mazda CX-5 (3136) and Toyota RAV4 (2690), with Honda’s new CR-V not far behind with 2232 sales.

Toyota was as dominant as ever in June, finding 23,172 customers from a total market of 125,830, but the Japanese giant was down 5.6 per cent with an 18.4 per cent share.

Mazda (12,469) was steady in second, but third-placed Hyundai (10,437) slipped by almost 15 per cent as Mitsubishi (10,245) closed in on it after leaping 10.6 per cent.

Ford (7492) was down more than 15 per cent in fifth place, while Holden (7383) hoisted itself back up to sixth -- despite being down more than 20 per cent – and right behind with help from 1157 Commodore sales; its best sales figure since launch.

Kia (7063, +4.9%) was seventh, just ahead of a surging Honda (7013) – up from 10th last month with a near-30 per cent sales spike thanks to CR-V (up 375%).

Rounding out the top 10 were Nissan (6606) and Volkswagen (6334) with 1.3 and 1.8 per cent monthly sales declines respectively, followed by a sea of red numbers down to at least 16th place -- the most notable being Jeep’s 30 per cent slump in June.

Top 10 models in June:
Toyota HiLux – 5788
Ford Ranger – 4768
Mitsubishi Triton – 3917
Toyota Corolla – 3780
Hyundai i30 – 3547
Mazda3 – 3327
Mazda CX-5 -- 3136
Toyota RAV4 – 2690
Kia Cerato – 2485
Holden Colorado — 2472