VFACTS - Ford Mustang Outsells Falcon, Territory, Kuga, Fiesta and Mondeo in July

AUSTRALIA’S new-car market tapped the brakes slightly in July, falling slightly compared with the same month last year, figures released today show.

The Toyota Corolla, with 3247 sales, nudged the Hyundai i30 (2216 sales) out of the way to take over top spot in individual model sales. The Corolla was followed by two utes competing in one of the hottest parts of the new-car market, the Toyota HiLux (3136) and Ford Ranger (2874), followed by the i30 and the only Australian-made model to make it into the top five, the Toyota Camry (2172).

However, while our appetite for shiny new metal has waned, it hasn’t stopped us escaping to the allure of the Ford Mustang, with the two-door muscle car snaring 619 sales – its second-best monthly result since launch.

Overall sales for July came in at 91,331 vehicles, 1.1 percent down on July 2015’s figure. Despite the slight slowdown in car sales, the total market is still on a path to eclipse last year’s sales figures with year-to-date sales currently sitting at 689,471 – 18,736 cars more than this time last year.

And though the market as a whole slowed down in July (down from June’s record-smashing figure of 128,569), the SUV segment maintained its growth. A total of 256,210 SUVs were sold to the end of July 2016, a massive increase of 10.3 percent against 2015’s numbers.

The Ford Mustang was the third highest-selling model in Ford showrooms last month. The only models to outsell it last month were the Ranger and Focus, with the gap between Mustang and Focus coming down to 86 cars. The Mustang even managed to outsell 2WD variants of the popular Ranger ute, while a substantial slide in Territory volume has put Ford’s large family hauler 113 cars behind Mustang.

Year to date, the Mustang is still the fourth highest-selling model in Ford’s stable with 3118 cars delivered since its December arrival, behind the Ranger, Territory and Focus. Mustang GT Coupe automatics account for the lion’s share of Mustang orders with 1054 cars delivered to the end of June, though the GT Coupe manual isn’t far behind with 828 cars sold over the same period.

Looking at the broader new car market, Australia’s love affair with high-riding SUVS and crossovers continued, with buyers steadily marching out of passenger cars.

Despite the slight slowdown in car sales, the total market is still on a path to eclipse last year’s sales figures with year-to-date sales currently sitting at 689,471 – 18,736 cars more than this time last year.

And though the market as a whole slowed down in July (down from June’s record-smashing figure of 128,569), the SUV segment maintained its growth. A total of 256,210 SUVs were sold to the end of July, an increase of 10.3 percent against 2015’s numbers.

Though all VFACTS SUV categories – encompassing small, medium, large and upper-large – grew, the bulk of the SUV sales push came from mid-size SUVs such as the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4 and Hyundai Tucson, which are currently the top three players in the segment.

As SUV sales soar, passenger car sales have slumped. The small car segment under $40K has fallen 3.8 percent year-to-date while light car sales below $15K have slipped by 17.2 percent over the same period.

The only winners have been luxury cars in the light and small segments, which have both grown sales this year. All other passenger car segments – both mainstream and premium – have fallen. The only other exception is the upper-large luxury car segment, which has grown by 23.9 percent largely thanks to the successful introduction of the all-new 7 Series range.

Toyota retains its dominant position in the market with 17,465 sales in July, up 3.7 percent compared to the same month last year. Mazda, Hyundai and Ford follow with 8460, 7603 and 7071 sales respectively, though those brands all recorded fewer sales than they did in 2015.

Ford followed with 6894 sales, with a huge 20 percent growth figure based on bigger numbers from Ranger, Mustang and Mondeo.

Top 10 vehicles in July

Top 10 brands in July