VFACTS for April: HiLux back in charge

April was another strong month for new-car sales in Australia, according to industry statistician, VFACTS.

Total sales for the month amounted to 81,401 units, a 27.3 per cent gain (17,436 additional sales) on the April tally last year. The size of the increase was to be expected in part, as the market was still struggling with the Global Financial Crisis in April 2009. All segments, across all vehicle classes (passenger, SUV, light truck) saw sales improve in April, against the same month last year. If not for the April sales volumes in 2008, last month would have set a new record of its own.

"There are signs of strength across a broad range of vehicle segments and buyer types," said Andrew McKellar, Chief Executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Describing the result as "very encouraging", McKellar nevertheless warned that the market may yet slow in response to interest rate rises.

"It has to be expected that recent interest rate increases will have some dampening effect on demand over coming months, however, the industry is hopeful that interest rates must now be at a level where further increases will be more difficult to justify," he said.

Toyota is one company unconcerned by increasing interest, as long as it's increasing interest in the company's products from consumers. The top-selling company suffered a significant loss of market share last year, but has come good in 2010, with year-to-date sales up 11,039 units (a 19.3 per cent increase on the same period, 2009).

As the vanguard for Toyota's renewed sales push, the HiLux light commercial is more than carrying its weight. Combined 4x2 and 4x4 sales peaked at 3419 in April, handing the pick-up monthly market leadership for the fifth time.

Toyota Australia's senior executive director sales and marketing David Buttner attributed Toyota's overall lift in sales -- 3664 more vehicles sold last month than in April 2009, for example -- to the hard work of the dealer network.

"Toyota's dealers responded to the global financial crisis with kaizen (continuous improvement) activities designed to improve their service to customers even further," said Buttner.

"These changes have contributed significantly to the pick-up in sales, which we expect to continue throughout the year."

Still in the top ten car companies, but not selling in the same league as Toyota, Subaru enjoyed an exceptional month. The total of 3216 vehicles sold was an April record for the importer, helped along the way by the new Liberty (547 sales, up 53.7 per cent against April 2009) and Outback sales of 456 for the month, up an astonishing 96.6 per cent over April last year.

Much of Subaru's sales performance must be considered in the context of supply shortages this time last year, but the Forester has been selling strongly all along. It remains the top-selling compact SUV in the nation, posting 1116 sales last month. Rounding up the rest, Subaru sold 984 Impreza small cars and 113 Tribeca SUVs.

The top ten manufacturers, based on year-to-date figures are: Toyota (68,381), Holden (43,440), Ford (30,162), Hyundai (27,938), Mazda (27,919), Nissan (19,958), Mitsubishi (19,427), Subaru (13,433), Honda (13,324) and Volkswagen (11,215). All companies other than Honda are ahead of where they were for the same period in 2009.

Interesting to note that in year-to-date sales, just 19 cars separates third-placed Hyundai from fourth-placed Mazda. And Mazda has just unleashed its upgraded Mazda2, including a sedan. Next month's tussle could be very interesting -- and Hyundai will come back guns ablaze with new light and small car product...

Top ten cars for the month were: Toyota HiLux (3419), Holden Commodore (3165), Mazda3 (3079), Toyota Corolla (2829), Ford Falcon (2763), Holden Cruze (2514), Hyundai i30 (2483), Hyundai Getz (2192), Mitsubishi Lancer (1912) and Toyota Yaris (1799).

In large cars, Ford's Falcon is holding down second place for the month (2763 sales), over 500 units better than the car's sales for April last year. By contrast, the Holden Commodore actually sold fewer cars last month (3165), than in April '09. It's still over 4000 units ahead of the Falcon for the year to date however.

Ford seems to be bouncing back with the Territory SUV too. Selling 1085 units in April, it was just 10 behind the Holden Captiva and it outsold Toyota's Kluger (898) by a handy margin. Blue oval fans, watch this space...

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