VFACTS March: Utes overtake cars in strong market

The long, drawn-out decline of traditional passenger cars has seen them fall behind light commercial vehicles – led by utes such as the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger – for the first time after the first quarter of trading in 2021.

Three successive months of booming ute sales has helped LCVs to 60,066 sales so far this year, marking a 25.8 per cent increase over 2020 which at this time last year saw the industry descending into a deep downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic.

By comparison, passenger cars have fallen to a new low with only 59,144 sales after the first quarter across eight different market segments – from micro cars through to sports cars and the once-dominant large cars – which is an 8.9 per cent fall on even last year’s diminished sales performance.

SUVs are surging ahead as the dominant category, accounting for more sales than all other major categories combined, with 135,900 new registrations recorded across the first quarter of 2021 – up 19.4 per cent on last year.

This is now routinely reflected in the list of top 10 models, with the Toyota HiLux the nation’s top-selling vehicle of any type with 14,040 sales in the first three months of the year, followed by the Ford Ranger on 10,003 units and the Toyota RAV4 on 9338.

The Toyota LandCruiser is in fourth position on 8301 sales (both SUV and ute combined) as buyers clammer to purchase remaining stock of the V8 diesel-powered 4x4 off-road wagon before the incoming 300 Series switches to a smaller six-cylinder oil-burner.

The only punctuation marks as far as passenger cars go are the Toyota Corolla (7381) and the Hyundai i30 (6676), the latter higher than it would normally be due to the Korean brand’s move to rebrand the Elantra as the i30 sedan.

These and other traditionally strong performers such as the Kia Cerato (4466) and Mazda3 (4451) are propping up overall small-car sales, which represent one in two passenger car sales in Australia but are well behind utes and the most popular SUV categories (small, medium and large).

As ever, but with a dominance that continues to defy the increasing fragmentation and competitiveness of the market elsewhere, Toyota stands high above the canopy with another dominant performance in March of 21,000-plus sales that now sees it with 56,513 sales for the year to date, up 12.9 per cent.

Mazda remains a clear second with 27,615 sales YTD, while the numbers tighten among other leading brands, namely Hyundai (19,055, +14.1% YTD), Mitsubishi (17,811, +7.1%), Kia (17,173, +10.9%) and Ford (15,788, +13.7%).

There is a gap to the bottom half of the top 10 sellers, where a closely fought contest is being waged between familiar brands and one upstart – Nissan (12,139, +12.9%), Subaru (10,074, +27.9%), Volkswagen (9089, -6.8%) and MG (8728, +163.2%).

Isuzu UTE and Mercedes-Benz Cars aren’t far away, but Chinese brand MG (the upstart) has consolidated its position among the leading players and now looks poised to overtake Volkswagen for ninth as all three of its model lines – the MG ZS (top-selling small SUV), MG3 (top light car) and HS (ninth-best mid-size SUV) – run at record pace.

Other Chinese brands are also continuing to run well above the resurgent market overall, with GWM (now combining Haval and GWM brands) recording 1021 sales last month – almost half its YTD total of 2658 (+171.2%) – while LDV has recorded a similarly strong result of 3150 sales YTD (+117.7%).

These are way higher than struggling big-name brands such as Renault (1289), Peugeot (446), Citroen (34), and even Jeep (1797), which is albeit on an upward trajectory.

Mercedes-Benz Cars remains the number-one premium brand (8134, +13.5%), ahead of BMW (6170, +11.0%) and Audi (4402, +18.9%).

The overwhelmingly positive results returned by the major brands is reflected in the overall market’s 13 per cent increase across the first quarter of this year, with 263,640 sales – a figure that puts it back close to the mark the industry was at in the first stanza of 2019, when COVID-19 was not on anyone’s radar.

Significantly, private buyers are responsible for the buoyancy in the market, accounting for 137,893 units for a 22.6 per cent increase year-on-year, compared to business sales being up only 3.2 per cent and government sales falling sharply by 16.0 per cent.

The March result of 100,005 sales across the industry is 22.4 per cent ahead of the corresponding month last year, and the first time beyond 100K since 2018.

“It is possible that the result could have been even stronger if some brands had not been impacted by delivery constraints in global factory supply chains,” said Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber.

“It is our expectation that these delivery issues will continue to be resolved during the coming months.”

Top 10 brands (2021 year to date):
Toyota – 56,513
Mazda – 27,615
Hyundai – 19,055
Mitsubishi – 17,811
Kia – 17,173
Ford – 15,788
Nissan – 12,139
Subaru – 10,074
Volkswagen – 9089
MG – 8728

Top 10 vehicles (March 2021):
Toyota HiLux – 5319
Ford Ranger – 3983
Toyota RAV4 – 3522
Toyota LandCruiser – 3392
Mazda CX-5 – 3022
Toyota Corolla – 2892
Hyundai i30 – 2514
Mitsubishi Triton – 2492
Isuzu D-MAX – 1994
Nissan X-TRAIL – 1932