VFACTS for September: Sales primed by alternative energy

Diesels and hybrids are driving sales growth, if figures released by the FCAI today are any indication

The Aussie new-car market is being boosted by sales of alternative-energy vehicles, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

In a press release timed to coincide with September's VFACTS figures released today, the FCAI attributes the lion's share of sales growth to hybrid-drive vehicles, based on year-on-year comparison (September 2012 versus September 2011). Hybrids, naturally, were most popular in passenger vehicles, which is also the largest market class reported by VFACTS. The FCAI states that 3371 hybrid passenger vehicles were sold last month, in contrast with the 1697 units sold during September last year. For the year to date, 9461 hybrid-drive vehicles have sold – representing a 54 per cent increase over the same period last year.

To an extent, that's a reflection on the number of new vehicles entering the market as much as growing acceptance of the technology. Since the start of the year Toyota has tripled its imported hybrid range, with Prius c and v models joining the 'mainstream' Prius. And the company has launched a new generation of its locally-manufactured Camry Hybrid.

Honda is also ramping up its hybrid portfolio, with CRZ, Insight and new Civic Hybrid all joining the range. The spread of hybrids in the market is expanding rapidly with BMW launching its ActiveHybrid 5 last month (pictured) and the 3 Series version is on the way. Other premium brands are either coming to the party (Infiniti) or are already selling hybrids (Lexus, Porsche).

Of the additional 3318 hybrids sold this year, increased numbers of Prius (612) and new sales from the Prius c (1377), accounted for nearly 2000. To that sum Honda's CRZ has added 348. Some hybrids, such as the Honda Insight, have actually lost sales (down to 201 from 489 last year).

The real story here is actually less about hybrids, more about the uptake of alternative-energy drive systems generally, including diesel, LPG and electric. EVs are still selling in a trickle only, but LPG vehicles are selling in better numbers this year, possibly as a consequence of Holden introducing its single-fuel LPG system earlier in 2012.

But really, it's diesel making most of the inroads into petrol sales. Sales of diesel passenger cars to private buyers have reached a plateau and even declined slightly (from 14,932 last year to 14,681 for 2012 so far), but non-private buyers have more than made up that difference (19,499 versus 18,380 for the first nine months of last year). In light commercial vehicles petrol-engined cars have lost around 6000 sales, whereas diesels have picked up about 17,000.

Surprisingly, a pitched battle has broken out between petrol and diesel in the SUV class. For the year to date SUVs have racked up 51,208 additional sales, of which 26,333 are diesels and 24,839 are petrol – with hybrids making up the balance. The growth was evenly spread across three of the four segments, with compact SUVs gaining 16,945, medium SUVs up 15,640 and large SUVs expanding by 17,080. Many of the compact and medium SUVs are petrol-only, but diesels tend to be more popular in medium and large SUV segments.

Diesel sales have been steadily growing for the last several years, but with hybrids appearing to capture the public imagination at last – based on nearly 3400 passenger vehicle sales last month – will the market see diesel sales begin to wane from this point? Private passenger buyers already seem to be deserting diesels...

The market as a whole seems to be well over the natural disasters that plagued supply last year. Total market sales of 94,627 for the month of September marked a nine per cent rise in sales over the same month last year. All classes showed gains for the month, with SUVs notching up the biggest increase – an extra batch of 4301 vehicles for a 20.7 per cent jump. Passenger vehicles were up 1510 vehicles (3.2 per cent) and light commercials rose by 1693 units (10.7 per cent).

In year-to-date terms, the market is 9.4 per cent ahead of 2011 (822,674 in 2012, an increase of 70,546 units over 2011). Within the passenger car class, only large and upper large segments have failed to build on the sales figures for the same period last year. All segments in the SUV class have shown growth in 2012 and in the LCV class only pick-up/cab chassis 4x2 and Van/cab chassis 2.5 to 3.5-tonne segments have fallen back.

Top selling brands for the year to date are: Toyota (159,111), Holden (85,345), Mazda (77,862), Hyundai (68,460), Ford (65,892), Nissan (58,749), Mitsubishi (44,444), Volkswagen (40,223), Subaru (30,779), Honda (25,336). Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi continue to post worse results than for the same time in 2011. All the other companies in the top 10 have picked up sales.

The best selling cars during the month of August were: Mazda3 (4276), Toyota Hilux (3479), Hyundai i30 (3144), Toyota Corolla (3133), Holden Commodore (2532), Mitsubishi Triton (2326), Toyota Camry (2267), Holden Cruze (1951), Nissan Navara (1812), Mazda CX-5 (1809).

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VFACTS for September: Sales primed by alternative energy

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