May VFACTS: Utes, SUVs prop market up

Toyota’s evergreen HiLux was Australia’s top-selling new vehicle again last month, when utility and SUV sales growth continued to outstrip that of passenger cars, resulting in a 2.3 per cent overall sales increase.

Despite improved sales for all top 10 brands except Hyundai, Holden and Nissan – and all segments except light, large, upper large, small SUV and 4x2 ute -- the industry is still down on last year’s record level following its sales slump of more than five per cent last month.

According to sales figures obtained by motoring.com.au, official VFACTS numbers to be released on Monday will show Toyota was the top-selling brand again in May, followed by Mazda, Hyundai, Ford, Holden, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Volkswagen, Kia and Subaru.

The biggest winners were Kia (up more than 40 per cent month-on-month on the back of strong Cerato and Sportage sales), Toyota and Ford (both up more than 15 per cent) and Volkswagen, which lifted by more than 11 per cent thanks to the Jetta, Touareg, Passat Alltrack and its commercial vans.

Ford was again buoyed by sales of the Ranger (4070 -- up more than 30% in May) and Mustang, which found more than 1350 buyers. The disparate models accounted for more than 70 per cent of the Blue Oval’s monthly sales.

All Toyota models were up in May except the Prius family, Corolla, 86 and Fortuner. Once again Toyota's biggest sellers were the HiLux (4155 – up more than 10%), the soon-to-be-axed locally-built Camry (1780 – up 80%), Prado (1620 – up 40%) and LandCruiser wagon (1315 – up 34%).

Mitsubishi was also up, by more than 6.5 per cent, thanks to sales spikes for the ASX, Outlander, Pajero Sport and Triton 4x4 -- as was Mazda, by just over three per cent, following sales rises for all models except the 2, 6 and BT50 4x4.

Other big winners were Honda (up 43.5 per cent thanks to its new Civic) and Isuzu UTE, which recently launched upgraded D-MAX and M-UX models.

The big losers in May were Nissan (down 9.9 per cent as a result of all models except QASHQAI, X-TRAIL, Navara 4x2 and 370Z declining), Hyundai (down 7.7 per cent after all models except Tucson, Elantra, Accent and i40 declined) and Holden – down 6.6 per cent following sales slumps by all models except Caprice and Colorado.

The LCV/SUV boom continued across the industry, with the HiLux and Ranger being Australia’s top-selling models in May, and the only two to find more than 4000 customers.

Australia’s most popular new vehicle in 2016, the HiLux was Toyota’s and the nation’s top-seller for the third month in a row, with the Ranger next best and easily Ford’s best-seller.

Behind them were the once-dominant small cars, Toyota’s Corolla (3160 – down 5%), Hyundai’s new i30 (2685 – down almost 30%) and, filling out the top five last month, the Mazda3 with 2595 sales – down 20 per cent.

The second half of the top 10 models in May was dominated by SUVs including the new Mazda CX-5 (2300 – up 8.5%), Hyundai Tucson (2135 – up 30%) and Nissan X-TRAIL (1990 – up 30%).

Holden’s Colorado ute (1925 – up more than 35%) was ninth, with the same brand’s final homegrown Commodore rounding out the top 10 with 1925 sales – down 18 per cent.

In yet another sign of the times, of the 10 most popular new vehicles purchased last month, three were utes, three were SUVs, three were small cars and Australia’s one-time favourite car was last.

Top 10 sellers in May:
Toyota HiLux
Ford Ranger
Toyota Corolla
Hyundai i30
Mazda3
Mazda CX-5
Hyundai Tucson
Nissan X-TRAIL
Holden Colorado
Holden Commodore