New-car sales soften in September

The Australian new car market is still on track to notch up more than 1 million sales for only the third year on record. However, preliminary figures for September show that there was a slight slowdown last month.

The official sales numbers for September due to be released this week are expected to show that the new car market is up 10 per cent compared to the same month last year. But this is down on the year-to-date average which, to August, was up 15 per cent.

Market leader Toyota is expected to have had a reasonably strong month, although it did not meet its internal targets. Some European brands, meanwhile, have reportedly been affected by delays in deliveries of popular diesel models because of overseas demand.

"This time last year we were in the middle of the strength of the federal government's business allowance [on new cars]," says former Toyota executive and now boss of Lexus Australia, Tony Cramb. "But last month dealers were saying the level of customer enquiry was unseasonally low."

"You've got to keep in mind that this time last year the [new-car] market was just roaring along, so it's not surprising to be down slightly. But to be frank, I think for the market to be up is a good sign. I think [Australia] will crack 1 million sales for sure. Something has seriously got to go wrong for it not to happen."

Unfortunately, Lexus may not be one of the brands popping champagne corks over its sales results. Toyota's luxury division sold slightly more than half its usual number of cars, with approximately 320 new models being delivered – down from the company's target of 500 sales per month (an average of 6000 per year).

"We had trouble with enquiry all month," he said. "It's too early to tell if there were some side effects because of the delay in the election decision, or if there were other factors."

Until last month Lexus had been tracking well. To August the brand was up 16 per cent for the year – slightly ahead of the overall market – with strong sales from its IS250 sedan and RX softroader models. The addition of the convertible version of the IS250 also provided a boost.

Next month the Lexus line-up will be joined by a more powerful V6 sedan the IS350, to bridge the price gap with the IS250 and the high performance IS-F.

An early next year the Lexus hybrid hatchback, the CT200h, will arrive in local showrooms. That model is expected to be the third biggest seller in the line-up.

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