VFACTS for November: Passenger cars wilting

VFACTS figures released today reveal that the Australian new-car market is currently sitting just below 1.1 million sales (1,079,370) for the year to date, following another strong result last month.

The market is unlikely to exceed the figure of 1.2 million sales forecast by the end of the year, however the final result will likely mark yet another record. If the market in December approaches 100,000 units, as it did last year, that will take the total for 2016 very close to the projected figure.

Once again, the stand-out in November was the gradual decline of passenger cars, rapidly being overtaken by SUVs. Passenger cars sold fewer than 40,000 units in November, which is nearly 2000 below the result for November 2015. SUVs, in contrast, are up nearly 1500 units, year on year, and sit a little over 2000 units behind passenger vehicles for the month. Total sales for the month reached 98,937 vehicles.

In year to date sales SUVs are around 38,000 units behind passenger cars. For the same period in 2015, the gap was 98,000, so the popular family cars have gained on passenger cars somewhere in the vicinity of 60,000 units - within the space of one year. That gain is due to a combination of accelerating SUV sales during the period, plus the fading strength in passenger car sales. Most of the passenger-car sales decline last month was seen in light, small and large cars. Medium cars were slightly ahead, due primarily to this year's introduction of the Subaru Levorg, adding 200 units to stem the losses for the month.

Like SUVs, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) also enjoyed a strong month, with Hilux and Ranger duking it out again for the top spot.

"Private buyers are increasingly using these dual cab utilities as a weekday workhorse and a weekend recreational vehicle," said the Chief Executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Tony Weber.

“The growing sophistication of these vehicles with their passenger car comfort and equipment levels, family-sized cabins and strong towing capacity positions them as an alternative to the traditional passenger car. More entrants to this light commercial market are on the way in coming years so we can only expect this segment to grow."

With Camry and Corolla, Toyota has three models in the top four places for the month. Two other brands have two entries each in the top 10, with Hyundai's i30 and Accent splitting the Mazda3 and the CX-5. The sun may be setting on the local manufacturing industry, but the remaining indigenous design that's actually built here, Holden's Commodore (pictured), is still selling in the top 10.

Top 10 brands for the year to date were: Toyota (189,685), Mazda (108,446), Hyundai (94,503), Holden (86,583), Ford (74,741), Mitsubishi (66,616), Nissan (61,754), Volkswagen (52,006), Subaru (43,110) and Kia (39,354).

Hyundai, Holden and Volkswagen have sold fewer cars this year than for the same period in 2015.

Top 10 vehicles for the month were: Toyota Hilux (3839), Ford Ranger (3410), Toyota Corolla (3245), Toyota Camry (2957), Mazda3 (2877), Hyundai i30 (2541), Holden Commodore (2088), Hyundai Accent (1995), Mazda CX-5 (1956) and Nissan Navara (1938).