NEWS
VFACTS for July: FBT impact already felt
Lower than expected sales prompt FCAI to lobby for tax change repealAutomotive sales last month hit 90,235 – 4.1 per cent better than the figure of 86,641 units in July 2012.
Yet that's not enough to placate the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Tony Weber, Chief Executive for the FCAI, used the opportunity presented by today's release of July VFACTS sales figures to take a swipe at the government's revised fringe benefits tax (FBT), announced last month.
"Anyone looking at the July figures needs to put them in context and look at what the new-car market was doing before the FBT announcement," Weber was quoted saying in a press release.
"Even though sales were at an all-time high for a July, we had good reason to expect them to be even higher given our members’ tracking of the market in the first half of the month."
At 663,946, the year-to-date sales tally is 4.6 per cent ahead of the same period last year, but the FCAI warns that the growth in the first half of this year will decline over the second half if the government is re-elected and the revised FBT is enacted. However, for last month at least, the downturn was nothing like as severe as some analysts had predicted.
The FCAI admits that sales of locally-built cars rose 4.8 per cent for the month, although that didn't help Ford, which sold fewer than 2000 units of Falcon, Ute and Territory during the reporting period. Falcon sedan has slipped below 600 units, which would seem to be be largely a consequence of the announcement the car will not remain in production after 2016. In contrast, Holden notched up 2827 sales of the VF Commodore, which outsold its four-cylinder stablemate, the Cruze, on 2467 units. Toyota is somewhere in between the other two manufacturers, with Camry selling 2061 for the month, but Aurion just 10 units ahead of the Falcon, on 604.
Toyota's Corolla (pictured) is forging ahead as Australia's most popular car, with 24,915 sold for the year so far. On 23,541, Mazda3 is about 1400 units behind. If Mazda's small car, previously the best-selling car in Australia, is struggling to keep pace with Corolla this year, it only has to wait until early 2014 for a successor to rejoin the battle. And across Mazda's local range, the products boasted strong sales in July, to push the importer's numbers into new record territory, 8525 cars for the month.
VFACTS figures for last month show that passenger vehicle sales actually rose 7.2 per cent to 46,318, and SUVs rose 6.5 per cent to 25,568, but light commercial vehicles dropped 7.2 per cent to 15,639. Only the light and medium segments showed no sign of improvement in passenger vehicle sales, year on year. In SUVs, the sole type to sell fewer vehicles than during the same month last year was the large SUV segment. All light commercial vehicle segments were down for the month.
Top selling brands for the year to date are: Toyota (123,543), Holden (61,684), Mazda (60,812), Hyundai (55,988), Ford (51,237), Nissan (49,139), Mitsubishi (42,984), Volkswagen (31,359), Honda (26,175) and Subaru (23,815). Of the companies in the top ten, only Toyota and Subaru have recorded lower sales for the year to date than in 2012.
The 10 best selling cars during the month of July were: Toyota Corolla (3945), Mazda3 (3464), Toyota Hilux (2971), Holden Commodore (2827), Holden Cruze (2467), Hyundai i30 (2290), Toyota Camry (2061), Ford Ranger (1781), Mitsubishi Triton (1766) and Holden Colorado (1694).
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Tags
Share this article
Written byCarsales Staff
See all articlesOur team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
Contact
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Download the carsales app
