November VFACTS: Market hits a million

Australia's new-vehicle market has topped the magic million mark for the fifth consecutive year since 2010 (and the seventh year in history, including 2007 and 2008), with a month to go this year.

However, overall sales slumped by 4.8 per cent in November to be 2.2 per cent down year-to-date (YTD) and more than 23,000 sales down compared to 2013, when a record 1,136,226 new registrations were recorded.

According to VFACTS figures due to be released today, sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles slumped once again last month (this time by a big 12.2 and 4.9 per cent respectively), and now lie a respective 6.2 and 3.8 per cent down YTD.

Yet again though, SUV sales surged – by 7.3 per cent in November – to be up 5.5 per cent so far in 2014.

While all passenger car sales segments were off except people-movers, all SUV segments except upper large grew, with small SUVs again posting the greatest growth (up 17.7% in November to be up 17.5% YTD).

In terms of brands, biggest mover of the month was Hyundai, which again sold more vehicles than any brand except the still-dominant Toyota, to overtake Mazda in YTD terms for the first time.

While Hyundai sales were up less than one per cent in November to remain 3.5 per cent ahead YTD, Mazda was down 3.5 per cent last month to be 2.8 per cent down YTD, but still also surpassed Holden last month.

Despite falling sales of all of its passenger cars last month, Toyota (down 12% in November and 5% YTD) holds an unassailable 2014 lead over Holden, which was down a big 25 per cent last month to be 4.4 per cent off YTD, with Hyundai less than 6000 sales behind and Mazda just 381 sales further behind.

Ford is safe in a distant fifth for the year, despite being down an even bigger 26 per cent last month (to be 8% off YTD) and being outsold by Mitsubishi in November.

The one-time local car-maker surged by 37 per cent last month on the back of Lancer and Outlander campaigns, out-selling both Ford and Nissan for fifth overall in November, and has now overtaken Nissan for sixth YTD.

There were no other surprises among the mainstream brands, with Nissan down 5.5 per cent for the month and now 14 per cent YTD, Volkswagen down 11.5 per cent in November but steady YTD, and Subaru down 10 per cent for the month but still up 1.5 per cent YTD.

However, Mercedes-Benz continues to star, with a 33 per cent November sales spike led by the A-Class, C-Class and CLA (which again outsold BMW's volume-selling 3 Series) again helping it to a top 10 finish last month – ahead of Honda (down 13% in November and 20% YTD), Jeep (up a respective 28% and 38%) and Kia (down 11 and 6%).

Mercedes sales are now 16 per cent up year-on-year and within 800 units of a record 30,000 sales, placing it within just 34 registrations of Honda so far this year.

The three-pointed star brand led a continued sales surge by its fellow German luxury marques, including BMW (up 16% in November, 11% up YTD with 20,800 sales) and Audi, which was up a huge 26 per cent last month to be 21 per cent ahead for the year with 17,669 regos.

Similarly, Porsche is riding the wave of its all-new Macan and latest 911 with a 76.5 per cent sales boom last month to be 47 per cent ahead for the year, although Lexus was down 29 per cent last month to remain narrowly ahead YTD.

Of the other movers last month, Peugeot was up 38 per cent due to strong sales of its new 308 and old 4008, Renault was up 21 per cent (to be 45% ahead YTD) thanks to its Clio, Koleos and Trafic and Land Rover was up 14 per cent for the month and 22 per cent for the year.

Conversely, Volvo was down a substantial 37 per cent last month to be seven per cent behind YTD, with Kia down 11 per cent in November and six per cent YTD.

As for the vehicle segments, the Mazda3 now lies just 679 sales behind the Corolla in the battle for top honours overall, with sales of both small cars down last month but the Toyota's more so. The Mazda3 was Australia's top-selling car with about 3500 sales last month – well ahead of the Corolla (3264) but only 64 more than the Hyundai i30 hatch and Elantra sedan combined.

Ford Falcon sales slumped to another low of just 411 in November (down 66.5%) to be 38.5 per cent down YTD the month before its final facelift is released. Holden's Commodore attracted more than five times as many buyers with 2200 sales, which was nonetheless 29 per cent down month-on-month but still up almost 12 per cent YTD. Meantime Toyota sold just 336 Aurions in the month (down 45%), to be more than a quarter down YTD.

Sales of all micro-cars except the Fiat 500 and Panda bombed, leaving the Mitsubishi Mirage as the leader with more than double the sales of its closest competitor (the Nissan Micra), while Hyundai's i20 stretched its lead in the light-car class over the Mazda2 with a 20 per cent sales spike while the Japanese model was in change-over.

Audi A3 sales spiked by 90 per cent in November, but the A-Class (up 124% in November, to be up 51% YTD) still holds sway in the luxury small-car segment so far this year, 4377 versus 4169 sales.

Similarly, the Benz C-Class (up 57% in November) surged further ahead of BMW's 3 Series last month, to lie less than 300 sales of the Mazda6 – Australia's top-selling mid-size car behind the Toyota Camry, sales of which are also in decline ahead of a midlife makeover.

The E-Class remains another class-leader for Merc, stretching its lead over the BMW 5 Series in the large luxury category, while Chrysler 300 sales nosedived last month yet they still outpace the Holden Caprice in the two-horse upper-large sedan race, and the strong-selling Honda Odyssey continues to out-perform the fading Hyundai iMax and soon-to-be-replaced Kia Carnival in the people-mover stakes.

Toyota's 86 still leads the Hyundai Veloster in the mainstream sports car sales battle despite both cars fading in popularity, while the 4 Series remains BMW's only top-selling passenger car (but is behind the combined sales of the two-door C- and E-Class in the $80K-plus sports car class) and the Porsche 911 still easily leads the BMW 6 Series in the $200K-plus sports arena.

As for SUVs, the Hyundai ix35 extended its lead over the Subaru XV, with the Mitsubishi ASX still in third, but will be gone from the small SUV segment in 2015, when the Mazda CX-3 will head a charge of new entrants. Audi's Q3 still leads the BMW X1 in the luxury small SUV class but sales of both models slumped in November.

Sales of the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, Subaru Forester and Nissan X-TRAIL remained static in the mid-size category, while the Audi Q5 and BMW X3 continued to lead Range Rover's slower-selling Evoque atthe top-end of the class.

Jeep's Grand Cherokee is being caught by Toyota's Prado and Kluger in the large SUV stakes, with the slumping Holden Captiva and just-refreshed Ford Territory filling out the top five. BMW X5 sales boomed even more so than that of the Mercedes M-Class last month in the large luxury SUV segment, in which Land Rover Discovery sales spiked by 90 per cent and the Range Rover Sport is 90 per cent more popular so far this year.

Likewise, the evergreen LandCruiser and the Nissan Patrol both posted sales increases last month but the Toyota is still streets ahead in the two-horse upper-large SUV race, while the Benz GL leads the Range Rover and a fading Lexus LX in the $100K-plus upper-large SUV segment, which has growth another 15 per cent this year.

Finally, Toyota's HiLux led the LCV pack but was down almost 15 per cent last month, followed by Mitsubishi's Triton and the Ford Ranger, which is up more than 20 per cent YTD and the only bright spot in the Ford range apart from the Kuga SUV.
Top 10 brands November:
Toyota – 15,995
Hyundai – 8530
Mazda – 8106
Holden – 7849
Mitsubishi – 7067
Ford – 5843
Nissan – 5183
Volkswagen – 4403
Subaru – 3802
Mercedes-Benz – 3369

Top 10 brands 2014:
Toyota – 184,486
Holden – 98,340
Hyundai – 92,354
Mazda – 91,973
Ford – 73,767
Mitsubishi – 61,199
Nissan – 60,156
Volkswagen – 50,262
Subaru – 37,071
Honda – 29,240