Australia’s new car market has seen mixed fortunes for the top 10 car manufacturers marking a somewhat steady start to the year mostly thanks to the popular trend of SUV sales, which has continued into 2015.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) today released their figures for January 2015, which saw car purchases for January 2015 on par with January 2014 figures.
Australians bought 82,116 new passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles in January 2015, with the Mazda3 being the most popular vehicle (3903 Mazda3s sold). The Mazda3 was followed by the Toyota Corolla (3472), the Toyota Hilux (2331), Hyundai i30 (2092) and Holden Cruze (1870) rounded out the top five swelling cars in January.
The results for January show that of the top 10 highest selling brands in January there were four which saw sales gains when comparing year-to-date (YTD) sales from January 2014 to January 2015, these were; Nissan (0.3% gain), Volkswagen (0.5% gain), Subaru (0.1% gain) and Honda (0.3%).
Meanwhile, two brands remained at the exact same levels of January – Toyota (16.6%) and Mitsubishi (10%). Four brands saw sales fall when compared to January 2014 sales, these are; Mazda (-0.4%), Holden (-0.6%), Hyundai (-0.3%) and Ford (-1.8%).
Releasing the January 2015 VFACTS figures, FCAI chief executive Tony Weber says the trend towards SUV purchases is showing no sign of slowing down, with total SUV sales up 6.9% on January 2014 figures. Small and medium SUVs showed significant growth, up 17.9% and 9.5% respectively.
“The continuing popularity of SUVs is a reflection of the versatility of these vehicles. SUVs now represent 33.7% of the market and we expect this trend to continue as we move through 2015,” Weber says.
The January 2015 market of 82,116 new vehicle sales is a decrease of 169 vehicle sales or -0.2% on January 2014 (82,285 vehicle sales). January 2015 (25) had the same amount of selling days as January 2014 and this resulted in a decrease of 6.8 vehicle sales per day, according to VFACTS.
Light commercial vehicle sales were consistent with January 2014 figures (-0.3%), while passenger car sales declined 4.3%. Passenger cars accounted for less than half of the January 2015 new car market (48.5%). Light commercial vehicles accounted for 15.8% of the market.
Top 10 individual models (by sales volume):
1. Mazda3 3903
2. Toyota Corolla 3472
3. Toyota Hi-Lux 2331
4. Hyundai i30 2092
5. Holden Cruze 1870
6. Holden Commodore 1784
7. Ford Ranger 1784
8. Mazda CX-5 1699
9. Hyundai ix35 1636
10. Volkswagen Golf 1559
