VFACTS February: Market woes worsen
Challenging times for the automotive industry, with Holden the first domino to fallThe Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has today released VFACTS sales figures for February 2020 revealing that consumer confidence has taken an added hit over summer.
Disastrous bushfires, the corona virus (covid-19) outbreak in China and on-going socio-economic uncertainty at home are to blame, the FCAI says.
The economy is going through difficult times anyway, but the bushfires and the spread of the disease around the globe have heaped catastrophe upon catastrophe for automotive retailers and importers.
Total sales in February amounted to 79,940 new vehicles, 7162 fewer than February of 2019. That's a decline of 8.2 per cent for the month, year on year. Combined with the 12.5 per slump in January, sales for the year to date (151,671) have shrunk by 10.3 per cent overall.
Although February sales for 2020 are poor enough, they're worse still when compared with February 2018 (95,999 vehicles sold that month).
Of the four vehicle classes, only sports utility vehicles (SUVs) enjoyed stronger sales last month, increasing by 2012 sales – 5.4 per cent – year on year. In February there were 39,304 SUVs sold, plus 22,648 passenger cars (down 4503 sales/16.6 per cent) and 15,523 light commercial vehicles (down 4308 sales/21.7 per cent). SUVs, at 49.2 per cent of the market, are well on the way to being the chosen vehicle for every alternate buyer.
“The Australian new vehicle market has now seen a downturn each month for the past 23 months,” said Chief executive of the FCAI, Tony Weber.
“In economic terms, a recession is declared after two quarters of negative growth – and this industry has now seen seven consecutive quarters of negative growth.
“There is no doubt that this is an extraordinarily difficult time for the automotive industry – a situation sadly underlined by the recent announcement of Holden’s withdrawal from the Australian market.”
GM's decision to withdraw the Holden brand from the Australian market and sell just a handful of speciality vehicles through local converters was informed by the parent company's dwindling interest and profitability in right-hand drive countries. But whatever the reason, the announcement of Holden's fate ensured the brand would sell fewer cars in February, year on year.
In February 2019 – a dark month as it was for Holden fans – the brand sold 3825 vehicles, but last month, with the announcement made on the 17th, Holden sold just 1367 vehicles. Holden shedding nearly 2500 vehicles made a significant contribution to the market-wide sales losses (7162) in February.
The FCAI's new reporting system, now in its second month of operation, may have been part of the reason why sales are so low, relative to this time last year.
Top 10 brands for the year to date 2020
Toyota – 32,488
Mazda – 13,925
Hyundai – 11,388
Mitsubishi – 10,621
Kia – 9825
Ford – 9025
Nissan – 7248
Honda – 6958
Volkswagen – 6879
Subaru – 4853
Only Toyota and Kia have sold more cars in 2020 so far than for the first two months of 2019. Kia is alone in experiencing continuous sales growth in the market over the past two years.
Top 10 cars for February 2020
Toyota HiLux – 3421
Toyota RAV4 – 3375
Ford Ranger – 3202
Toyota Corolla – 2520
Hyundai i30 – 2152
Mazda CX-5 – 1969
Kia Cerato – 1873
Toyota LandCruiser – 1839
Mitsubishi Triton – 1673
Toyota Camry – 1445
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