VFACTS for July: Status quo plays again

The new-car market in Australia accounted for 80,991 vehicles sold during the month of July — a shortfall of 1385 units against July 2010.

But as the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries' press release explains, that's right on the money for the same time last year, since dealers worked an additional selling day in July 2010. So the 1.7 per cent declined, year on year, must be considered in the light of a daily selling rate that was actually 2.1 per cent ahead for the month.

SUVs carried the market, selling 351 vehicles more than in July 2010, whereas passenger vehicles and light commercials slid backwards; passenger cars by 1890 units (four per cent) and LCVs by 229 units (1.7 per cent).

With year-to-date sales — 577,227 vehicles — running 36,317 units (5.9 per cent) behind the same period last year, the FCAI is now forecasting a 2011 calendar year total of 0.988 million, based on seasonally adjusted estimates. But that doesn't allow for the simple fact that automotive sales were badly affected by natural disasters, both here and abroad. Those disasters are unlikely to reoccur in the latter half of the year, allowing the possibility of the market exceeding a million sales for the year.

The FCAI's Acting Chief Executive Steve Payne (pictured) expressed that exact view in a press release issued earlier today.

“While the drop in sales in July is small compared to the same month last year, the overall drop in sales for the year to date of 5.9% indicates that consumers are continuing to delay new vehicle purchases,” Payne said.

“The supply of vehicles and components from Japan, following the earthquake and tsunami in March, has improved, however sales of several popular models were still affected by supply constraints. Sales of SUVs continue to grow, with an increase of 1.8% compared to July 2010 and, in particular, Luxury SUVs have had a very strong year, with year-to-date sales up 17.4%.”

“We expect annual sales to be around 1 million vehicles for 2011.”

While Holden has failed to outsell Toyota for a third month in a row, its Commodore range has at least returned to the top of the pile for individual model sales, the locally-built large car out-performing any other model in the market during July. The Commodore — 3351 cars sold last month — has also retained its market leadership based on year-to-date sales.

“Our strong July results come off the back of some great locally-built product. Commodore sedan and Sportwagon models continue to draw plenty of attention in our showrooms while the customer reaction to the Series II Cruze has been quite phenomenal,” said Philip Brook, the company's Director of Sales.

“We plan to build on this momentum in the second half of the year as we continue to roll out new models across the Holden range. 

“Our next-generation Barina and locally-designed Cruze hatch are just around the corner and we expect the launch of these models to cap off a strong year.”

Toyota's situation is looking more positive day by day, said the company's senior executive director sales and marketing, David Buttner, in a press release issued today. According to Buttner, Toyota has 20,000 vehicles headed our way this month and next — and has a Toyotathon promotion in train for August and September. So the company is clearly getting back on track, where production at its Japanese facilities is concerned, but that didn't really show up in last month's VFACTS figures. July's total of 12,980 vehicles was a long way short of the 17,250 sold in July 2010, but it was enough to ensure Toyota overtook Holden for the month and retains the lead over Holden by about 15,000 units for the year so far.

"Toyota has recovered more quickly than expected from production disruptions caused by the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March," said Buttner. "Manufacturing plants supplying vehicles for the Australian market have worked hard to make up lost production. Toyota is now back on track globally with a small net profit in the April-June quarter and higher full-year forecasts for production and profits."

The top ten selling car companies for the year to date were: Toyota (98,108), Holden (73,389), Ford (52,993), Mazda (50,780), Hyundai (50,204), Nissan (39,180), Mitsubishi (36,458), Volkswagen (23,933), Subaru (21,667) and Honda (19,610). All ten retained their position from last month, with Mazda, Hyundai, Nissan and Volkswagen selling more during the year to date than last year for the same period. The other six companies have lost ground.

The top ten selling cars for the month were: Holden Commodore (3551), Mazda3 (3290), Toyota Hilux (3147), Holden Cruze (3123), Toyota Corolla (2502), Hyundai i30 (2232), Ford Falcon (1835), Mitsubishi Lancer (1539), Ford Territory (1445), Mazda2 (1421).

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