VFACTS August: Nissan falls out of top 10
New-car market remains just 1.3 per cent up on pre-pandemic levels as several brands take a hit due to reduced supplyNissan fell out of the list of top 10 best-selling brands in Australia in August while Kia rose to a solid third position, reflecting the mixed fortunes of car-makers amid global supply chain disruptions and the deteriorating health crisis.
The local car industry is still performing much better than at the same point last year, when COVID-19 restrictions were heavily in force and total new vehicle sales were down 20 per cent year-to-date.
Last month’s 81,199 total sales signify a 33.1 per cent improvement over the corresponding month last year, and puts year-to-date growth at 27.2 per cent, despite the biggest single market, New South Wales, falling seven per cent in August.
That said, last month’s result is 5.2 per cent down on August 2019 – before the pandemic took hold and when the industry was struggling on a variety of other fronts – and now places this year’s overall market just 1.3 per cent ahead of where we stood in year-to-date terms two years ago.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) is putting a positive spin on the current situation as gains made in boom trading months earlier this year begin to erode.
“The bounce of 33 per cent on last year’s figure demonstrates the resolve of car manufacturers to engage with customers and drive-up new vehicle ownership,” said FCAI chief Tony Weber.
He also said that “uncertainty around lockdowns meant manufacturers were having to remain agile in the ways they engage with customers”.
But this will come as cold comfort for many of the leading brands which, despite strong order banks, are badly affected by reduced production overseas due to shortages of semi-conductors and other COVID-related issues.
In many ways, this year’s sales race is boiling down to who can secure enough supply to satisfy demand – and how long lockdown restrictions remain in place in the major markets of NSW and Victoria.
Nissan is one of those leading brands that has a healthy order bank but remains at the mercy of overseas vehicle supply. It finished in an unaccustomed 11th position last month on 2162 sales (-9.2%), with its top-selling model, the Nissan Navara ute, managing only 836 units (-3.7%).
It’s in seventh position for the year to date, though only 311 sales clear of Volkswagen and about 3000 units ahead of MG, Subaru and Isuzu UTE.
Other brands to also return unexpected negative results last month include the leading premium brand, Mercedes-Benz Cars (1905, -7.7%), as well as Volvo (549, -3.3%), Suzuki (1045, -9.0%), an almost non-existent Citroen (5, -16.7%) and Alfa Romeo (54, -28.9%).
Honda also recorded only 941 sales (-36%) in the second month under its controversial move to an ‘agency’ business operation.
However, the company says this was not unexpected and is confident its sales will recover to its targeted monthly running rate of 1650 units by the final quarter of this year.
At the top of the field, Toyota racked up 19,959 sales (+60.3%) and dominated with four of the top five best-selling models – HiLux (4470), Corolla (3563), RAV4 (3169) and Prado (2731). Only the Ford Ranger, in second place on 3959 units, stopped Toyota painting the town red.
Mazda was in its accustomed second position with 7645 sales (+10.5%), while Kia posted another podium position with 5065 sales (+12%), placing just ahead of Ford (5058, +29.8%) and its sister Korean brand Hyundai (5016, +10.9%).
Kia’s performance, which was underpinned by the Kia Cerato small car (1205) and will soon be bolstered by the new Kia Sportage, sees it hold fifth position for the year so far – but only 349 units from Ford and 551 behind Hyundai, which is normally the dominant force among the Korean brands.
SUVs account for half of all sales
Elsewhere among the August results, SUVs accounted for 50 per cent of all sales with a 26.6 per cent increase in volume for the month (to 40,981), while light commercials – led by the top-selling 4x4 utes – held a 24 per cent share on the back of a strong uptick in sales of 71.2 per cent (19,236).
Large SUVs were the biggest movers among the leading segments (11,670, +70.2%) but mid-size SUVs remained the single most popular category with 14,629 sales (+2.7%). Throw in small SUVs (10,349, +33.1%) and it's plain to see where Australian buyers are steering with their hard-earned.
Electric cars? There were 370 sold last month, taking the year-to-date total for all brands combined (except the market-leading Tesla, which doesn’t report its figures) to 3102 units.
There were also 293 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles sold last month (2058 YTD) and 6488 regular hybrid cars (48,298 YTD).
Thanks largely to Toyota’s ever-expanding hybrid range, petrol-electric models across the industry currently account for 11 per cent of all petrol-powered vehicle sales combined (PHEV, hybrid and ICE).
Top 10 models (August 2021):
Toyota HiLux – 4470
Ford Ranger – 3959
Toyota Corolla – 3563
Toyota RAV4 – 3169
Toyota Prado – 2731
Mazda CX-5 – 2239
Hyundai i30 – 2047
Isuzu D-MAX – 1941
MG ZS – 1700
Mitsubishi Outlander – 1638
Top 10 brands (2021 year to date):
Toyota – 156,555
Mazda – 77,010
Hyundai – 48,712
Ford – 48,510
Kia – 48,161
Mitsubishi – 47,547
Nissan – 28,835
Volkswagen – 28,524
MG – 25,868
Subaru – 25,701
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