VFACTS September: Market slumps to new low
New-vehicle sales falls to a record low in September as Holden, Mazda and Ford stumbleUpdate, October 3, 2018: Official figures released by VFACTS today have confirmed a total market decline of 5.5 per cent for the month of September. This translates to a monthly total of 94,711 vehicles sold, which is 5489 fewer sales than the September tally in 2017. For the year to date the total market of 881,005 sales is down by 8163 units, a 0.9% decline from 2017.
Top 10 brands that watched monthly sales slip back, year on year, included Mazda (-3258, -31.5%), Hyundai (-20, - 0.2%), Ford (-1761, -25.7%), Holden (-2231, -25.7%) and Volkswagen (-207, -4.2%). For further information concerning the top 10 brands' year to date standings, see below.
Australia’s new-vehicle market posted its biggest monthly decline so far this year in September, when the industry slumped by 8.9 per cent.
According to preliminary figures obtained by motoring.com.au ahead of official VFACTS figures due tomorrow, last month’s sales result eclipsed this year’s previous record monthly sales slide of 7.8 per cent in July.
Year-to-date sales numbers are not yet available, but given the industry was down 0.3 per cent at the end of August, new-vehicle sales at the three-quarter mark of 2018 are now significantly lower than the same period in 2017.
September’s overall sales decline was echoed by sales slumps by half of the top-10 brands, the biggest of them being Holden, which fell by more than 32 per cent with just 4650 sales, placing it 10th overall.
Next worst performer among top-10 brands was Mazda, with a 31.5 per cent decline at 7070 — placing it fourth for the month behind Toyota (17,400 sales, up 0.1%), Hyundai (8110, down 0.2%) and Mitsubishi (7600, up 7.8%).
Ford posted the third largest monthly decline at more than 25 per cent, with less than 5100 sales putting it sixth — behind Nissan, which surged by more than 29 per cent to almost 5200 sales.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kia (5000 sales, up 7.3%), Subaru (4750, up 2.5%) and Volkswagen, which was down 4.2 per cent at just under 4700 sales – a handful ahead of Holden.
In terms of particular models, sales of Toyota’s evergreen HiLux were up and continued to lead the market with almost 4340 registrations, ahead of Ford’s Ranger, which was down significantly at less than 3230 sales.
Next was the Toyota Corolla at just over 2900 (down 4.5%), followed by the Hyundai i30 at more than 2500 (up 9%) and the aging Mazda3 with just 1840 sales – down more than a third compared to September 2017, in line with most other Mazda models last month.
While strong Navara sales drove Nissan’s solid monthly result, Mitsubishi’s sales lift came courtesy of the ASX and Triton 4x4, and Holden Commodore sales remained strong at more than 670.
2. Mazda - 86,074
3. Hyundai - 73,120
4. Mitsubishi - 64,468
5. Ford - 52,970
6. Holden - 45,548
7. Kia - 45,374
8. Nissan - 43,594
9. Volkswagen - 42,781
10. Honda - 40,537
Top 10 models for September:
1. Toyota HiLux - 4338
2. Ford Ranger - 3228
3. Toyota Corolla - 2917
4. Hyundai i30 - 2508
5. Mitsubishi ASX - 2138
6. Nissan X-TRAIL - 1908
7. Mitsubishi Triton - 1857
8. Mazda3 - 1842
9. Toyota LandCruiser - 1741
10. Nissan Navara - 1713
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