VFACTS March: New-vehicle sales better than expected

New-vehicle sales didn’t fall as far as expected last month as a result of the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak.

In fact, according to confidential preliminary industry sales figures obtained by carsales ahead of the FCAI’s official VFACTS report on Friday (April 3), some brands actually increased their sales in March.

Market leader Toyota, which sold more than 17,500 vehicles, was up at least 1.5 per cent. Holden too was up — a huge 30 per cent as dealers runout remaining stock following GM’s axing of the brand in February.

But while Subaru was another top 10 brand to lift sales in March (albeit marginally), almost all other mainstream brands recorded heavy decreases over the same month last year.

Most notable losers in March, according to the leaked preliminary figures, were second-placed Mazda (down 29%), followed by Mitsubishi (-43%), Hyundai (-29%), Ford (-21%), Nissan (-30%), Honda (-27%) and tenth-placed Volkswagen (-38%).

There are some caveats on the early numbers. At least two mainstream brands (Kia and Suzuki) are not included in the unofficial sales numbers circulated between car-makers so far. In addition, industry insiders say some brands are expected to under-report their sales in March in order bolster their April figures.

In all, the March new-car market is estimated to be down around 20% -- not a bad result given the anti-Coronavirus restrictions placed upon consumers and business in Australia from around mid-month.

Thus, the full effect of the pandemic on the local car market won’t be known until at least the end of April.