VFACTS for September: FCAI predicts a million for 2010

Private buyers are hitting the showrooms with a vengeance. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries released VFACTS figures today indicating that the number of private buyers in the market rose by 14.2 per cent in September.

Most of the new-car sales going to private homes were SUVs, with that class of vehicle recording a 36.3 per cent increase. Passenger vehicles scored an extra 3.1 per cent and light commercials were up by 1.7 per cent.

"It is encouraging to see that sales to private buyers recorded the largest increase this month... which is further evidence of renewed confidence in the marketplace," said the FCAI's Chief Executive, Andrew McKellar, who had further good news for the industry.

"Given the continued strength of the market in recent months, the industry has revised its annual sales forecast to more than one million sales -- up from the previous projection of more than 980,000. The Australian market has only twice recorded a market with more than one million sales so this will be quite an achievement."

In total, sales peaked at 85,054 for the month -- an improvement of 8.9 per cent on the September 2009 figure -- taking the year-to-date figure to 780,720.

Car companies enjoying on-going sales success based on the September VFACTS figures included Hyundai and Subaru. For the Korean brand, its sales tally of 6120 units for the month was a September record and the juggernaut just keeps rolling on.

"The team at Hyundai and the Hyundai Dealer network are thrilled to have experienced 21 consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth," said Damien Meredith, Hyundai's Director of Sales.

Diesel continues to be the cause celebre in the Subaru range. The month of September was a record for the Japanese importer too and of the 3105 vehicles sold, 344 were diesels. Of the 1330 Foresters sold, 253 were diesels -- and as a component of the total, the 19 per cent of sales that were diesels outstripped the year-on-year growth of Forester sales (17.6 per cent).

Outback sales for September were actually lower than in September 2009 (322 versus 390), and 91 of the cars sold last month were diesels. So for different reasons, diesels are currently very important to Subaru's sustained growth.

But it wasn't all about diesels and SUVs for Subaru. 1001 units of the Impreza were sold last month -- a gain of 43 per cent, year-on-year -- with the importer declaring that 232 of those were the recently released 'wide-body' WRX and STi variants.

Liberty sales for the year-to-date have risen 41.6 per cent, reflecting the market performance of the new model released last year.

With the exception of Honda, the top ten marques for the year to date have all seen their numbers grow in contrast with the same period in 2009. Toyota remains at the top of the ladder with 157,538 sold so far in 2010. Holden is still a long way back with 101,169, but the GM brand's market share has risen, while Toyota's has fallen slightly -- meaning that Holden is slowly hauling in Toyota.

Ford, with 73,071 sales, remains in third and has physically sold more cars this year -- almost 3000 more -- but reflecting its slower response to the changing market, the blue oval's market share has fallen from 10.3 per cent last year to 9.4 per cent this year.

Mazda holds on to fourth spot with 65,568 sales -- a considerable gain on the 57,695 sold last year, but market share has fallen very slightly from 8.5 per cent to 8.4, which suggests that while Mazda has been a strong performer this year, Holden's significant jump in share, which manifests itself as over 15,000 extra sales has skewed all companies' market share.

Hyundai (fifth with 61,582), Mitsubishi (sixth with 47,217) and Nissan (seventh with 46,898) have all picked up incremental share in a growing market, which indicates just how well the three importers are selling relative to Holden -- the company that appears to be distorting the numbers by its performance.

Hyundai's gain for the year to date has been massive -- up by nearly 14,000 units. Mitsubishi has picked up over 7000 extra sales and Nissan has gained more than 8000 sales. 

Subaru (30,697 units for the year) is precisely 20 sales ahead of Honda (30,677), which means that Subaru has now overtaken Honda as of this month. Volkswagen, with 28,475 sales for the year, rounds out the top ten and, like some of the companies ahead of it in the rankings, has lifted its share of the market -- from 3.3 per cent last year to 3.6 -- and is nearly 6000 units ahead of the score for the same period last year.

Top ten most popular vehicles for the month were: Holden Commodore (4038), Mazda3 (3878), Toyota Corolla (3316), Toyota Hilux (2679), Holden Cruze (2432), Ford Falcon (2265), Hyundai i30 (2223), Toyota Camry (2172), Mitsubishi Lancer (1852), Mazda2 (1718).

As a point of interest, in year-to-date sales, Mazda3 is now the leading car in the small-car segment, ahead of Toyota's Corolla. Both cars have seen sales improve year on year, but both have lost market share. Could the Corolla's loss of its small-car king status be a consequence of the rapid gains made by Holden's Cruze?

The Cruze, which is to be built locally in coming months, has burst out of the blocks with sales of 21,397 units for 2010 and 2432 last month. It would be sweet for Holden if its own small car were instrumental in hurting sales of the Toyota that has occasionally taken top sales spot from the Commodore.

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