October VFACTS: Light commercials driving sales

Sales data to be supplied by industry statistician VFACTS tomorrow is expected to show light commercial vehicles were the engine room for sales growth last month.

Passenger vehicle sales are anticipated to be slightly down, year on year, and even SUV sales are believed to have registered barely a blip, measured against sales in October 2016.

All the action is in the light-commercial vehicle class, and specifically in 4x4 pick-ups. The information supplied anonymously indicates a lift in sales for this segment to the tune of around 2600 units, which is roughly the total monthly sales growth for the entire market.

Toyota's HiLux is understood to have placed some distance between it and the Ford Ranger, and in doing so it has built up its own sales base by something like 400 units for the month, compared with October 2016. The Hilux is also winning the sales race for the year to date with total so far in excess of 39,000 units.

In contrast, the Ranger has sold fewer vehicles last month than it did in October 2016, but is closing in on 36,000 sales for the year to date.

Mitsubishi's Triton 4x4 has reportedly more than doubled its sales from October last year. Sales of pick-ups were also boosted during October by hundreds extra here and there for Holden Colorado, Nissan Navara and Volkswagen Amarok.

The Hyundai i30 was the top-selling vehicle for the month, but continues to trail Corolla and Mazda3 in that order, for the year to date.

Toyota remains easily the leading brand in sales across the nation, followed in order by Mazda, Hyundai, Holden, Ford, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Nissan, Kia and Subaru, with Honda just outside the top 10. The market is on course for another record year.