VFACTS May: Have utes peaked?
New vehicle sales slowed even more last month as big brands and models took a hitAustralia’s new-vehicle market shrank by 2.8 per cent last month – the biggest monthly sales decline so far this year and the second in a row.
According to official VFACTS industry sales date due to be released next week, half of the top-10 brands suffered sales slides compared to May 2017, including market leader Toyota.
The Japanese giant was down 1.5 per cent in May, due to slower sales of all its passenger cars except the Prius C and Camry Hybrid, although sales of all Toyota SUVs were stronger.
Also down were second-placed Mazda (by 5.0%), fifth-placed Ford (-24.7%), Holden (-25.8%) and Nissan (-14.7%).
The loss of more than a quarter of all Holden sales in May followed sales dives for all models except Barina and the discontinued Spark baby cars.
On the bright side for Holden, which slipped from sixth to eighth in the pecking order, its new imported Commodore exceeded 1000 sales for the first month since its February launch, although 1040 registrations was still 43.5 per cent down on the homegrown VF’s May 2017 figure.
Top 10 brands to increase their sales were third-placed Hyundai (+6.0%), Mitsubishi (+5.1%), Kia (+9.9%), Volkswagen (+4.9%) and Honda (+8.4%) in 10th place.
In the first sign that Australia’s pick-up boom has peaked, sales of most popular one-tonne utes were down and HiLux 4x4 sales were static (+1.6%).
Sales of the fleet-friendly HiLux 4x2 lifted though, by almost 18 per cent, maintaining the Japanese ute’s status as Australia’s top-selling new vehicle last month, with 4385 sales.
Behind it was the Ford Ranger with 3674 sales (4x4 sales of which were down 6.1 per cent), followed by the Toyota Corolla (3120, -1.3%), Hyundai i30 (2779, +3.2%), Mazda3 (2586, +0.3%), Mazda CX-5 (2382, +3.7%), Toyota RAV4 (2063, +4.4%), Mitsubishi Triton (2025), Mitsubishi ASX (2024, +16.2%) and Volkswagen Golf (1951, +27.2%).
While Mitsubishi Triton, Mazda BT-50 and Volkswagen Amarok 4x4 sales were up 21, 22.5 and 24 per cent respectively, other key pick-up models were less popular in May, including the Nissan Navara (4x4 -29.6%), Holden Colorado (4x4 -9.9%) and Isuzu D-MAX (4x4 -1.3%).
Sales figures in June – the last month of the financial year, when light commercial vehicle sales traditionally spike – will show whether Australia’s love affair with the 4x4 dual-cab has finally climaxed.
Top 10 models in May:
Toyota HiLux – 4385
Ford Ranger – 3674
Toyota Corolla – 3120
Hyundai i30 – 2779
Mazda3 – 2586
Mazda CX-5 – 2382
Toyota RAV4 – 2063
Mitsubishi Triton – 2025
Mitsubishi ASX – 2024
Volkswagen Golf – 1951
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