As the new car sales records keep falling (January 2024 broke the record), commercial vehicles posing as family cars are more popular than ever.
The strong performance of the new car market has continued into 2024 with record January sales of 89,782 new vehicles, 5.8 per cent more than January 2023 and breaking the previous January record of 88,551 set in 2018.
Fleet buyers featured strongly in the January results with sales to business buyers up 11.7 per cent (3,374 vehicles) and government deliveries up 31.3 per cent. The order bank for fleet deliveries remains strong as the pent up demand is slowly being filled.
FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber, said 2023’s demand for new vehicles has continued into 2024 with many businesses and families taking ownership of a new vehicle in January, but there were concerns for the outlook of 2024 given current economic conditions.
The record January result was underpinned by continued customer preference for SUV and Light Commercial vehicles. SUVs accounted for 55.5 per cent of sales while Light Commercials were 22.9 per cent. Passenger vehicles made up 18.3 per cent of sales.
Low emission vehicles remained popular, with hybrids, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles making up 17.4 per cent of sales, while battery electric vehicles represented 5.4 per cent. The increase for PHEV compared to January last year was 123.7 per cent which represents an increase in supply and customer demand.
Toyota was the market leader with recorded sales of 17,903, followed by Mazda (8,165), Ford (6,624), Hyundai (6,162) and Mitsubishi (5,911).
The selling new cars in January 2024 were:
- Ford Ranger – 4,747 units
- Toyota HiLux – 4,092 units
- Toyota Landcruiser – 2,541 units
- Isuzu Ute D-Max – 2,541 units
- Toyota RAV4 – 2,211 units
