VFACTS for March: Sales accelerate without stimulus

New-car buyers aren't working from the script. March was supposed to be a quiet month for sales, with all the taxpayer-funded cars delivered back in February.

Importers -- and the local manufacturers to a lesser extent -- are still struggling to keep up with the demand from new-car buyers, particularly private buyers. Last month was a record for March sales, exceeding the numbers for the previous record in March 2007.

The total market reached 94,744 units for the month, nearly 20,000 units ahead of the figure for March 2009 and still about 3500 units ahead of March 2008. According to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the March total represented a 25.2 per cent gain on the March 2009 figure of 75,650.

All segments of passenger vehicle other than Upper Large (Statesman, Caprice, 300C) were up and the whole passenger vehicle class totalled 53,717 sales for the month -- over 10,000 units more than March of the previous year and also marginally ahead of passenger vehicle sales for March 2008.

It was much the same story for SUVs and light trucks too. The only variation there was that two years on, the SUV class (21,643 for the month) has grown by over 3000 units and is well over 6000 units ahead of the same time last year. Light trucks (16,276 sales) are actually about 500 units down on the March 2008 figure, but roughly 1300 units ahead of March last year.

"This is an outstanding March result and provides further evidence that the marketplace is returning to pre-global financial crisis levels," FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

"Business sales show some signs of easing following the phase out of targeted tax breaks but it is pleasing to see renewed growth from private buyers. With warnings of further interest rate rises, private buyers should move to take advantage of the current rate levels."

On the basis of year-to-date figures for the total market, seasonally adjusted annual sales are around 1.027 million, according to the FCAI. If we see more record-setting months this year, the market may reach a million units again in 2010, not 2011, as a couple of companies have predicted.

Among the volume-selling companies, few -- or none, if you prefer -- have performed in the market as strongly as Hyundai. In year-to-date sales, the importer has galloped ahead a whopping 66.3 per cent and the monthly sales gain, year-on-year, is nearly as impressive at 58.9 per cent.

What that means in terms of actual vehicles sold is this: for the first three months of 2009, Hyundai (the only company among the top ten still growing market share at that time), sold 12,759 units. During the first three months of this year, the company sold 21,213. It's much the same for March 2009 (4907 vehicles sold) versus March 2010 (7797 vehicles).

On the strength of both its performance last month and for the year to date, the Korean importer has moved ahead of Mazda, itself a strong brand in the market and one that has been pushing cars out the door as fast as they can ship them into the country. So Hyundai is really on a roll.

The two models that are providing Hyundai with the strongest value in the market are the iLoad van and the i30 small car. Against industry giant Toyota, the two Hyundai models are a thorn in the side. The i30 (and the Mazda3 by a narrow margin), both outsold the Toyota Corolla last month and, once considered unassailable among vans, the Toyota HiAce is now barely 100 units clear of the iLoad for sales, for the year to date.

The test for Hyundai will be for iLoad to overtake HiAce in sales before June -- which is when Toyota traditionally run out stock in its end of financial year sales. Up against the Corolla, the i30 has benefited from additional variants (such as the i30 cw wagon and diesel powertrain), plus a favourable exchange rate for the Australian dollar versus the Korean won, but it's a recent change in safety features that may have helped the i30 top the Corolla.

"We upgraded i30 entry trim -- that's the SX model -- for the 2010 model year a few months back and essentially the key change was to add side and curtain airbags as standard..." explained Hyundai's Australian Senior Manager Product Communications & PR, Ben Hershman.

"There was a point for a number of months where we were running out... 2009 model-year cars without [side and curtain airbags]. In the real world, the customer, in some cases, would have the choice between buying a 2009 model year [car] without, or the 2010 model year [car] with...

"No facelift changes, it was a specification enhancement that we decided to precede with for i30... for the whole range, rather than just the mid- and high-range a five-star [ANCAP] car.

In addition to the mix of specs mentioned above, Hershman believes the i30's sales performance is helped by awards the small car has been receiving through motoring bodies and specialist publishers.

Based on year-to-date sales, the top-ten manufacturers with their sales figures so far are: Toyota (51,684), Holden (33,476), Ford (21,970), Hyundai (21,213), Mazda (21,114), Nissan (15,298), Mitsubishi (14,622), Honda (10,261), Subaru (10,217) and Volkswagen (8369).

Honda is the only company among the top ten to pick up fewer sales last month than during March 2008. By comparison, in March 2008, only one of the top ten companies saw sales actually grow in a year-on-year basis. That company was Hyundai, as already mentioned.

The top ten vehicles for the month with sales figures in brackets were: Holden Commodore (4209), Toyota Hilux (3935), Hyundai i30 (3678), Mazda3 (3562), Toyota Corolla (3555), Ford Falcon (2496), Mitsubishi Lancer (2245), Nissan Navara (2154), Holden Cruze (2125) and Toyota Yaris (2114).

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