New car sales bright spots shine through
VFACTS says the market is still down but good news stories are on the increaseHyundai remains the success story of 2009 with the South Korean company the only leading brand to continue growing, according to the latest VFACTS figures for September released today. And while the overall market remains down on the same time last year, the gap has narrowed to only 3.5 per cent.
Overall the market year-to-date has rebounded to be down 13.1 per cent, despite the ongoing effects of the global financial crisis. Total sales for 2009 up to September were 681,974.
In part the reduced gap is due to the low number of sales in September 2008 but there are still plenty of positives for the car industry and consumers to take out of the latest numbers.
Several segments are up significantly including Luxury SUVs (up 30.9 per cent) and sports cars (up 17.1 per cent) while Compact SUVs, light commercial vans, light passenger cars, 4x4 Utes and medium passenger cars all recorded positive numbers.
But Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), cautioned against getting too pleased with the results.
"The September figure demonstrates signs of consolidation in the new vehicle market," McKellar said.
"Some areas of buyer confidence remain fragile and an interest rate rise is premature.
"Economic stimulus has resulted in positive business sales but private buyers need the confidence to return to showrooms in larger numbers."
According to the VFACTs stats, large car sales remain down 18.2 per cent year-to-date and 11.1 per cent for the month. Given that the new MY10 Holden Commodore was only launched in early September it will be interesting to see what impact it has in the October figures.
Audi remains up 16 per cent year-to-date after recording a 27.7 per cent rise for the month. But the brand's luxury rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz also recorded positive numbers for September proving there is still strength in the higher end of the market.
Overall Toyota remains the leading brand in Australia with 142,989 sales so far in 2009, ahead of Holden (85,667) and Ford (70,289).
Despite Hyundai's continued growth, Mazda is comfortably the leading fully imported brand with 57,695 sales recorded compared to the Koran company's 47,625. Rounding out the top 10 brands are Mitsubishi (40,092), Nissan (38,446), Honda (31,787), Subaru (27,225) and Volkswagen (22,717).
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