VFACTS February: Market slumps as big brands stumble

Update, March 3: The FCAI has revealed today that sales of SUVs have overtaken monthly passenger car sales for the first time in history. Of the total vehicles sold in February (89,025), 35,497 were SUVs and 34,740 were passenger cars. In the slow month, both classes of vehicles sold in lower numbers than February of 2016, but passenger vehicles were 12.2 per cent down, versus a smaller slump of just 3.7 per cent for SUVs. Light commercial vehicles dropped 5.6 per cent during the month.

In respect of the sales shortfall in February, FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said that the lower sales performance had to be seen in context.

"It’s important to look at sales results in the proper context because February 2016 was an unusually strong month. It included one extra selling day and saw a lot of activity in the market. This resulted in a 6.7 per cent surge over February 2015," he said.

All but three of Australia's top 10 auto brands posted significant sales slumps last month, pushing the overall new-vehicle market down 7.1 per cent in February, official VFACTS figures are expected to show on Friday.

The exceptions were perennial market leader Toyota, which was up 0.7 per cent over February 2016, Kia (up a big 36.1 per cent on the back of Cerato and Sportage sales spikes) and Subaru, which rounded out the top 10 with a 5.9 per cent increase thanks to its new Impreza.

According to preliminary auto industry sales figures obtained by motoring.com.au, Mazda (down 2.8%) and Hyundai (down 9.1%) were second and third behind Toyota, with Mitsubishi (down 13.8%) fourth.

Holden posted the second biggest sales decline of the top 10 brands at 22 per cent, placing it fifth with a 6.6 per cent market share, following a 32.8 per cent dip in sales of its top-seller, the Commodore (1565 sales).

The Holden Ute found 235 buyers (down 41%) and the discontinued locally-built Cruze just 96 (down 90%). Sales of all Holden models slumped, except the new Spark and facelifted Trax, Captiva and Colorado.

Providing a further preview of Australia's post-manufacturing automotive landscape from next year, Ford was down 14.8 per cent, placing sixth with a 6.5 per cent share.

Once again its best-seller was the Ranger 4x4 with about 4700 sales – up 15 per cent to outsell Toyota's HiLux (excluding 4x2 sales) and more than quadruple the sales of its next most popular model, the Mustang (580 sales). Ford's out-of-production Falcon and Territory homegrown models accounted for about 50 and 350 sales respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 were Volkswagen (down 6.2%), Nissan (which posted the biggest decline at 26.1%), Kia and Subaru, but other big losers last month were Jeep (down 53.6% in 14th) and Fiat (down 40.6% in 15th).

Once again the Toyota Corolla was Australia's top-selling new vehicle last month with 3392 sales, edging out the HiLux (3386) and Mazda3 (3143).

In stark contrast to January's 0.6 per cent sales increase, leading to expectations of another record new-vehicle industry in 2017, all market segments were down month-on-month, including passenger cars (down 9.3%), SUVs (down 5.4%) and light commercial vehicles -- down 5.8 per cent.

Top 10 models for the month
Toyota Corolla (3392), Toyota HiLux (3386), Mazda3 (3143), Ford Ranger (2931), Hyundai i30 (2003), Mitsubishi Triton (1990), Mazda CX-5 (1933), Toyota RAV4 (1726), Hyundai Tucson (1596), Holden Commodore (1566).

Top 10 makes for the year to date
Toyota (28,862), Mazda (19,990), Hyundai (13,706), Holden (12,908), Ford (11,581), Mitsubishi (10,833), Nissan (9437), Volkswagen (8613), Kia (8189), Subaru (7755).