VFACTS September: Toyota drives car industry to another monthly sales record

Toyota’s emphatic recovery following improved vehicle supply has sent Australia’s car industry to an all-time record sales result for September, with strong cameo roles played by other leading brands including Ford, Nissan and Tesla.

The 110,702 new vehicle sales across all car companies in September marks the third record monthly result in a row for the industry, the fourth in the space of five months, and an 18.3 per cent upswing on September 2022 to now place the market up 10.9 per cent at three-quarter time in this calendar year.

And Toyota is the driving force, the market leader having pulled itself out from a year-on-year deficit that plunged as deep as 30.3 per cent by the end of April to post two successive months in the black – including a 40.8 per cent increase last month alone with 20,912 sales.

Now heading towards 225,000 sales for the year, including a record 135,000 in the second half, Toyota has promised to deliver 20,000 vehicles a month (on average) for the rest of 2023 as it reduces waiting times for many of its sought-after model lines.

These include the HiLux ute – still the most popular vehicle in Australia, leading the Ford Ranger last month (5776 versus 5429) and for the year to date (44,301 v 43,073) – and the supply-ravaged RAV4, which managed only fifth place among the best-selling models in September with 2798 sales.

With the frenzied final quarter of trading now underway, Toyota will be aiming to reinstate the RAV4 as the top-selling SUV (and third overall behind HiLux and Ranger) but first needs to overtake two Chinese-built models – the MG ZS, currently on 23,152 sales compared to the RAV on 22,388, and, in what has been a watershed year for EVs, the Tesla Model Y, which is out in front on 23,457 sales.

With 3811 sales last month, the Model Y was again the most popular vehicle outside of utes in Australia, which also makes it the number-one SUV, prestige car and, of course, electric car.

That helped Tesla to 5177 sales once Model 3 (1366) is factored in, keeping the American EV brand in eighth position overall for the month and YTD. Such are the vagaries of vehicle deliveries, Tesla’s sales were actually down 13.3 per cent compared to September 2022, so the key figure to note is across the entire year to date – where its sales have skyrocketed 171 per cent.

Further up the table, Mazda was in its accustomed second position behind Toyota in September, posting 8031 sales (+10.6%) with positive results from BT-50 ute (1232) and the CX-3 and CX-30 small SUVs (2736 combined), while Ford’s sales climbed 20.8 per cent to cement third place on the back of Ranger (5429) and Everest (1984), the latter making it into the top 10 with a massive 148 per cent uptick.

Kia and Hyundai remain locked in battle for fourth position, Kia taking the honours in September – 7303 (+0.2%) versus 6217 (-4.4%) – to maintain a 2165-unit buffer YTD, while a struggling Mitsubishi only narrowly edged out a strengthening MG in the battle for sixth – 5761 (-15.1%) to the Chinese brand’s 5400 (+65.6%). YTD, there’s now only 2907 units separating these two.

Nissan is another brand on the comeback trail and last month racked up 4784 sales – a 154 per cent increase on September 2022 and enough for ninth place behind Tesla. Most of those came from X-TRAIL (1784, +260%) and Patrol (1208, +152%), the latter representing the best month ever for the Y62 series and the highest monthly return for the Patrol nameplate since June 2004.

Subaru rounded out the top 10 with another solid performance (4302, +35.8%), while just outside the main table was Volkswagen (4184, +13.1%) and Isuzu Ute (3932, +39.5%). Isuzu still holds 10th place for YTD sales, with VW and Nissan still outside as the likes of MG and Tesla go from strength to strength.

On a side note, as Tesla dominates the prestige market, the once-dominant Mercedes-Benz (1702) deferred to BMW (2354) last month and only narrowly outsold both Audi (1625) and Lexus (1498).

Getting into gear

With 899,286 sales recorded across the market to the end of September, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) is anticipating further gains in the final quarter as vehicle supply continues to improve and competition intensifies as a result.

“The record [September] result shows that Australian car buyers value a broad choice of vehicles in a range of price brackets that suit the family or business budget,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber.

“Consumers have a choice of vehicles across 20 light vehicle segments – from small passenger cars through to larger utes – confirming Australia’s position as one of the most open and competitive new vehicle markets in the world.

“Our advice is that the supply of vehicles into Australia, including electric vehicles, continues to improve so those consumers who want to buy a new vehicle should visit a dealer or manufacturer.”

SUVs and light commercial vehicles (led by utes) occupy the main stage, accounting for 79.4 per cent of total sales in September (57.9% SUVs, 21.5% LCVs) as passenger vehicles made up 16.8 per cent.

In the two biggest-selling segments, there were 25,792 mid-size SUVs sold last month – led by the Tesla Model Y – and 21,783 utes (where HiLux and Ranger rule the pack), including 984 large American pick-up trucks.

Battery-electric vehicles (8821) accounted for 8.0 per cent of total industry sales, while combined sales of EVs, hybrids (10,138) and plug-in hybrids (1264) made up 18.3 per cent.

Top 10 vehicles (September 2023):

Top 10 brands (2023 year to date):

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