VFACTS: August 2018 new vehicle sales

DESPITE the overall new car market softening by 1.5 percent against the record-setting August total last year, sales of small SUVs have continued to hold firm.

Year to date sales have dipped 0.3 percent against this time last year, but the SUV market as a whole has swollen by a massive 9.0 percent, set against a dip in passenger cars of 12.3 percent.

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Tasmanians bought 12.2 percent more cars in August than during the same month last year, with South Australia also enjoying a 1.5 percent rise and Victoria just trending up at 0.5 percent. A big fall of 9.7 percent was recorded in the NT, with New South Wales down 4.1 percent and ACT slipping by 5.1 percent.

None of the passenger cars segments recorded a growth over August last year while all SUV categories bar the Upper Large class pegged positive figures. VFACTS figures provided by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries also showed a respectable month by all-wheel drive utes, more than shrugging off the slipping numbers of two-wheel drive versions.

BRANDS

No surprises to find Toyota standing atop the market, with a share of 18.8 percent, up from 18.4 percent a year ago. Expect that number to swell with the first deliveries of the highly rated new Corolla. Overall sales were up 1.7 percent compared to last month.

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Mazda occupies second place on the ladder with its 10 percent share eroded by a tenth from August 2017 but still up 26.2 percent after a soft July. New CX8, a revised CX-9 and a restyled BT-50 ought to provoke footfall through dealers.

Hyundai finds itself in third with an 8.3 percent share, with the i30 hatch accounting for better than a quarter of the marque’s registrations this month. A rise in sales of 2.6 percent over last month provides something to smile about.

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The rest of the top ten was rounded out by Mitsubishi (up 6.3 percent for the month), Ford (down 10.3 percent) and Holden (slipping by a monster 37.6 percent due to worse than expected Astra sales). Volkswagen took a dent (down 2.0 percent), Kia ticked over okay (up 2.5 percent), Nissan had a good showing (up 8.4 percent), and Honda also had a month the local importers would probably want to put behind them (down by 6.4 percent).

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Other brands that had some good news to share were Alfa Romeo, which saw sales leap by 31.3 percent on the back of a run of Stelvio orders. Great Wall also had a belter of a month, up 144 percent, while Infiniti also crushed it, finishing the month up 97.9 percent.

MG also delivered in spades, heavy TV promotion of the ZS small SUV resulting in a whopping 577 percent increase over last month or, if you prefer the raw numbers, 283 sales stepping up to 1178. It’ll be interesting to watch that trend line.

Volvo will also be popping the champagne corks when reporting back to the mothership, sales stepping up by 83.7 percent this month on the back of continued XC60 strength, the arrival of XC40 and strong interest in the new V60.

MODELS

There aren’t any great shockers at the top of the tree here, with the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger occupying the top spots. The podium is rounded out by the Toyota Corolla, which looks set to consolidate its position against the comparatively aged Mazda3, which has nevertheless had an excellent year to date.

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The same can be said of the Mazda CX-5, sales taking a lift after a strong finish in Wheels COTY. Then there’s the Hyundai i30 followed by a school run blockade of four of the nation’s favourite SUVs.

The Toyota Prado has been a standout this year with sales up by 79.1 percent over this time last year, thanks to the refresh that arrived in November 2017. It’s followed by its stablemate, the Land Cruiser in eighth, with the gently fading Hyundai Tucson in ninth. The introduction of the latest facelifted Tucson ought to stem that particular tide, but whether it's enough to stave off the resurgent Nissan X-Trail remains to be seen.

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Sales winners per segment (August 2018)

Micro Cars

Light Cars

Small Cars < $40K

Small Cars > $40K

Medium Cars < $60K

Medium Cars > $60K

Large Cars < $70K

Large Cars > $70K

Upper Large

People Movers

Sports Cars < $80K

Sports Cars > $80K

Sports Cars > $200K

SUV Small < $40K

SUV Small > $40K

SUV Medium< $60K

SUV Medium > $60K

SUV Large < $70K

SUV Large > $70K

SUV Upper Large > $100K

4x2 Utes

4x4 Utes

IN FOCUS: SUV sales

Of the 41,271 SUVs sold in Australia last month, Toyota (17.5 percent share) topped the charts, followed by Mazda (12 percent) and then Mitsubishi (11.8 percent).

Of that total market, some 52 percent went to private buyers, with business accounting for nearly 37 percent of registrations, just over 8.5 percent going to rental fleets and the remaining percent or so going to government purchasers.

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The petrol diesel split across the SUV sector as a whole was interesting, with diesels registering 11,160 registrations and petrol engines notching up 29,913 sales.

Businesses, government and rental fleets were around five times more likely to buy an electric SUV than private customers, while the difference was nothing like so marked with hybrids, private buyers accounting for 44 sales and non-private taking 67.