The year hasn’t got better for new car sales. It’s been a surprising year, a few months ago the RAV4 was the top selling car, and this month the Ranger wins the prize.
In September a total of 68,985 new vehicles were sold. This is down 21.8% on September 2019 when 88,181 car were purchased. YTD sales are 644,891, down 20.5% compared to 2019.
Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, said that while the market remains slow, the industry was hoping to see an increasingly positive trend as barriers to purchase are eased and consumer confidence returns.
“First of all, we are seeing COVID-19 health restrictions across Australia, and particularly in metropolitan Melbourne, continue to ease.
“Another sign that the market may improve is the announcement by the Federal Government last week of an easing of lending conditions for private buyers and small business in Australia.
“Freeing up restrictions around financial lending will act as a stimulus for Australian industry,” Mr Weber said.
Restrictive lending practices have been one of the major factors contributing to the declining new vehicle market which has seen 30 consecutive months of decreasing sales in Australia. This market regression has also been attributed to a number of other factors including natural disasters, unfavourable exchange rates and economic uncertainty.
The September VFACTS results reveal that, on a state by state basis, Victoria continued to be hardest hit due to month-long Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions, recording 10,447 sales, a decrease from September 2019 of 57.7%.
During the month 17,720 Passenger Vehicle were sold, representing 25.7% of the total market. SUVs claimed 47.3% of the market with a total of 32,647 sales, and Light Commercial vehicles claimed 22.9% of the market with 15,772 sales.
Toyota was the top selling brand for the month, with 12,936 sales, followed by Mazda with 7,000 sales, Hyundai with 5,273 sales, Kia with 5,092 sales, and Ford with 4,816 sales.
The top five selling models for the month were the Ford Ranger with 3,726 sales, the Toyota Hi Lux with 3,610 sales, the Toyota RAV4 with 2,433 sales, the Hyundai i30 with 1,786 sales and the Mazda CX-5 with 1,765 sales.
The top 10 cars sold in September were:
- Ford Ranger
- Toyota Hilux
- Toyota RAV4
- Hyundai i30
- Mazda CX-5
- Toyota Landcruiser
- Kia Cerato
- Toyota Corolla
- Mitsubishi Triton
- Hyundai Tucson
