The federal government's small business investment allowance worked its magic once more last month. Sales outstripped the expectations of even the most optimistic marketing staff at the car companies.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in the VFACTS figures for the two local muscle-car-building firms, FPV and HSV. FPV (Ford Performance Vehicles) enjoyed a cracker of a month, according to General Manager, Rod Barrett.

"Considering the tough climate the industry has endured over the past 18 months, I am delighted with our strong finish to 2009," Barrett said.

"Hopefully this is a display of renewed confidence in the performance car market and will continue in 2010."

December was the company's best month in 2009 for total sales (241). It was also the first time FPV's monthly sales volumes had passed 200 units since August 2008 and you'd have to look back as long ago as February 2008 for a better result, when sales reached 244 for the month.

Over at Holden Special Vehicles, sales also held up strongly for the month and the total for December (400 units) showed a 20 per cent improvement over sales for the previous month.

The Maloo R8 ute had the bit between its teeth, improving 33 per cent over the November figure and taking the top spot for sales within the HSV range. By volume, the 'commercial' sold 133 units, ahead of the next best-selling vehicle (the ClubSport) by 17 units.

According to Tim Jackson, General Manager Marketing & Communications for HSV, the Maloo was the most popular model in the range for both December and June of last year. December was the final month of the small business investment allowance and June was the final month of the big business investment allowance. 

At 44 per cent of HSV's December sales, the Maloo's result lends credence to the view that the small business investment allowance has been a boon for the two performance-car builders, since they both sell 'commercial vehicles' that readily qualify for the tax break.

FPV's result doesn't appear to support that view to the same extent. With 87 sales for the month, the GS, F6, Pursuit and Super Pursuit Utes comprised 36 per cent of FPV's total sales. Based on combined sales of the different ute variants, FPV utes outsold the GS sedan, the most popular four-door model for the month. And the FPV utes' increase in sales over November '09 was 40 per cent -- even better, relatively, than the Maloo's improvement for the same period.

The utes were just 20 per cent of total FPV sales back in December '08, so the load-luggers are picking up a larger proportion of sales in recent times. As recently as November '09, the utes achieved a sales volume of 62 units -- exactly twice the volume of December '08, but still 15 units short of December '09, the final month of the qualifying period for the investment allowance.

During December 2008, which was the very depth of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), FPV sold 153 units, but the total for November 2009 was 183 -- just 30 more. Selling 241 units in December 2009 lifted the company's total by nearly 32 per cent in the space of one month. A look at the figures for December '08 and November '09 shows that the utes more than accounted for that difference, and the newly-launched GS ute played the major role in that.

As Tim Jackson tells it, HSV's wholesale figures (production, basically) ramped up at a slower rate from the launch of the E2 series in August to December.

"In essence our plan was for a steady increase in month to month wholesale orders through the last 4 months of the year due demand for the new model," he explained to the Carsales Network. "Therefore, no massive sales spike but a steady and expected increase...
 
"We did have our best month of the year in December, all models grew, and Maloo did show higher growth than other models (but this is a wholesale number and is planned into production) -- and as noted, anecdotally we have heard of higher than usual enquiry during the end of year period being attributed to the investment allowance."

The sales split for December follows.

FPV
GT E/F6 E: 10
GS: 59
GT: 44
GT-P: 9
F6: 32
GS Ute: 13
Pursuit: 4
Super Pursuit: 40
F6 Ute: 30
Total: 241

HSV
Maloo: 133
ClubSport: 116
GTS: 88
Tourer: 22
Senator: 26
Grange: 14
W427: 1
Total: 400

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