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NEWS
Market on track for another record: Toyota
Private buyers drive new-vehicle sales to another record this yearToyota has forecast another all-time sales record for Australia’s new-vehicle industry this year, despite the impact of proposed fringe benefits tax changes and passenger cars accounting for less than half the market for the first time.
The Japanese giant, which will sell more than 210,000 vehicles this year, expects the market to top 1.13 million sales for the first time – about 20,000 more than the previous record of 1,112,032 set in 2012.
"More than 85 per cent of the year is in the bank, leading to confidence that the total market is well on track for another record," said Toyota Australia Executive Director of Sales and Marketing, Tony Cramb.
"Indications are that this year will be around 20,000 higher than last year. That will be a remarkable result in what has been a tough 12 months."
With 942,547 vehicles sold to October this year (up 2.6 per cent on 2012 figures), 2013 will be the sixth time the Australian market has surpassed the one million mark in the past seven years and only the second time it will eclipse the 1.1 million threshold.
This year is also likely to be the first time passenger cars have accounted for less than half of all new-vehicle sales in Australia.
Passenger cars currently comprise just 49.8 per cent of the industry, thanks largely to the boom in SUVs.
“This will be another record year for SUVs – up about eight per cent on last year’s all-time record and knocking on the door of a 30 per cent share of the entire market,” said Cramb.
Also helping boost sales this year are private buyers, who snapped up seven per cent more new vehicles in 2013 and 37 per cent more than in 2009. So far this year private sales are up almost 34 per cent.
“Through all the uncertainty, it’s been the private buyer who has really driven the market this year.”
But the result could have been even higher if not for the previous Rudd Labor government’s proposed changes to FBT rules, which were officially overturned by the federal government last week.
Cramb said uncertainty caused by the proposed FBT changes reduced new-vehicle sales to businesses by 10 per cent in August, September and October, following the announcement of FBT changes in July. So far this year sales to business are down 3.8 per cent.
"Sales to business peaked in 2009,” he said. “This year, sales to business are likely to be static or even fall, even though they were running four per cent ahead of last year at the end of July. It’s not hard to see where the turnaround occurred.”
Speaking at this week’s launch of the facelifted Prado, Cramb said new-vehicle sales to governments had also more than halved since 2005, when they numbered 87,000 vehicles and accounted for nine per cent of the total market.
Government sales so far this year are down more than 13 per cent and account for just 3.5 per cent of the industry, while rental vehicle sales are also down, by more than 50 per cent.
Toyota will post its 11th consecutive year of market leadership this year – a feat not achieved for more than three decades – and currently leads Holden by almost 85,000 sales.
Its top-selling model, the Corolla, also looks set to become Australia’s most popular new vehicle – a title it failed to take away from the Mazda3 in 2012 and 2011, or from Holden's Commodore in earlier years.
The Corolla has topped the national sales chart since May, found more than 3000 homes in each of the past nine months and stretched its lead as Australia's best-selling car this year to more than 1500 registrations.
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Written byMarton Pettendy
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