May VFACTS: SUV boom rolls on

Australia's love affair with SUVs and utes remained strong last month as sales of traditional passenger cars continued to slide, official May registration numbers from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries are expected to show today.

According to preliminary VFACTS figures, the gap between sales of new SUVs and cars continued to shrink last month, when car sales were down 7.5 per cent and so far this year now lie 5.0 per cent or almost 11,000 units down.

Meantime, in a carbon copy of April and a record-setting March, SUV sales stayed strong – up 5.8 per cent for the month to remain 13.5 per cent or almost 19,000 units ahead year-to-date.

With 204,000 sold so far in 2015, passenger cars account for just 45 per cent of the overall market (down from almost 49 per cent at the same time last year), while nearly 157,500 SUVs represents nearly 35 per cent – up from 31.4 per cent a year ago.

Light commercial vehicles, meanwhile, showed a slight uptick of 1.0 per cent last month to be up 3.6 per cent YTD. They now comprise 17.4 per cent of the market. LCV sales are expected to be stronger in June – the last month of the financial year – and subsequent months as a result of the May 12 federal budget move to make small business purchases up to $20,000 tax deductible, and run-out deals for a number of utes as replacement models arrive.

Overall, slumping passenger car registrations dragged the total market down by 1.3 per cent in May, but the industry remains up 2.5 per cent and on track to top last year's result of 1.113 million new vehicles.

Market leader Toyota posted a surprise 7.6 per cent downturn in sales last month (and now lies 0.1 per cent behind YTD in a growth market), following a shock 30 per cent sales slide by the Corolla and a 10 per cent decline in HiLux 4x4 sales, as replacements for its two top-selling models draw near.

As such, the Mazda3 defeated Corolla -- 2876 sales versus 2688 -- for the first time this year, although the Toyota remains Australia's most popular new vehicle so far this year by 1300 units.

Ahead of them in May, however, was the HiLux – the only model to top 3000 sales with combined 4x4 and 4x2 sales – while a continued boom in demand for the Mitsubishi Triton 4x4 (both the model and old) saw it climb to fourth overall with 2683 sales, ahead of the Ford Ranger (2411).

Filling out the top-10 sellers in May were the Holden Commodore (down more than 16 per cent for the month and year), Volkswagen Golf, Hyundai i20, Mazda CX-5 and Hyundai i30.

Apart from the Ranger ute, the Territory and EcoSport were the only mainstream Ford models to increase sales last month, when the Blue Oval was down almost 14 per cent overall and sixth behind Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, Holden and even Mitsubishi.

To May this year, Ford sales are off 17.8 per cent, placing it fifth behind Toyota, Mazda (up 5.5%), Hyundai (down 1.3%) and Holden (down 10.4%).

Like SUVs, luxury cars continued to boom in May, when Mercedes-Benz was 5.5 per cent up to remain 19 per cent ahead YTD with 14,228 sales, followed by BMW – which posted a 29 per cent spike in May, outselling Benz for the first time this year to be 16 per cent ahead YTD on 9788 sales.

Remaining in third was Audi, which was 22.6 per cent up in May and now lies 16.3 per cent ahead YTD with 9128 sales.

May top-sellers: