Australians last year for the first time bought more than a million new motor vehicles in a single calendar year.
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VFACTS data compiled by trade group Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showed that 1,049,982 cars, trucks and buses were sold in 2007 – an increase of 87,316 or 9.1% over 2006. The previous record of 988,269 was set in 2005.
“One million new motor vehicles sales in a country of 21m people is an impressive achievement by the Australian automotive industry – and ranks as one of the highest rates of new car purchase in the developed world,” said FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar.
He said the market growth in 2007 was the continuation of a trend that has seen car sales expand by 277,000 vehicles or 35% since 2001.
“The Australian motor vehicle market has now grown in six out of the last seven years, driven by the strength of the labour market, rising asset values and improving vehicle affordability,” he added.
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By GlobalDataThe 2007 result was further boosted by record December sales of 86,250 – up 9,187 or 11.9%.
FCAI believes that the Australian motor vehicle market will remain strong in coming months and is forecasting a total of 1,000,000 sales in 2008.
“Last year the motor vehicle market grew at approximately twice the rate of the economy as a whole,” said McKellar.
“Although economic fundamentals remain strong and consumer confidence is proving to be robust, we think future growth will be more closely aligned with trends in overall domestic demand.”
For the 12th year in a row General Motors’ locally-made Holden Commodore was Australia’s best-selling vehicle with 57,307 sales.
The fully imported Toyota Corolla maintained its second place with 47,792 and – in a reflection of the importance of the light commercial vehicle market – the automaker’s HiLux was third with 42,009 sales.
Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and light commercial vehicles were major contributors to overall market growth.
Of the more than 87,000 additional sales last year, 27,329 were SUVs and 15,052 were 4×4 pickups.
The SUV market grew by 16.0% – a significant rebound in fortunes after contracting in 2006 – while the 4×4 pickup segment grew by 22.3%.
Other major contributors to market growth were small cars, which were up 13,030 sales or 5.9% and light cars – up 11,805 or 10.2%.
Small cars remained easily the largest volume segment of the market with 232,388 sales, ahead of large cars which, with 139,677 sales, grew by 3,154 or 2.3%.
“The 2007 figures show it would be far too simplistic to conclude, as some have, that there is a general move by Australian consumers to smaller cars,” noted McKellar.
“While sales of smaller cars have been growing strongly, in 2007 sales of SUVs and 4×4 pick-ups grew even faster.”
For the fifth year in a row, Toyota was the best-selling in brand in 2007 with a 22.5% share of the total market. Holden came second with 14.0% and Ford was third with 10.3%.
Toyota Australia said its sales of 236,647 vehicles were up 10.7% and it made five of the eight most popular vehicles in the country.
The Japanese brand outsold Holden and Ford combined in two months during 2007 and it also achieved record exports of 95,000 cars, shipping the Camry and the V6 Aurion derivative mainly to the Middle East.
Toyota’s sales ‘down under’ have grown 50% in the past five years and more than 87% in the past decade.
Local sales of the Australian-produced Camry and Aurion rose 43.8% with 48,372 being delivered – the best result for the company’s locally built medium and large cars in 45 years of manufacturing in the country.
Deliveries of the petrol-electric Prius rose more than 60% due to improved supply.
Luxury division Lexus also posted its best year of sales since the marque was launched in Australia almost 18 years ago, selling 8,199 vehicles in 2007, up 14.5% year on year.
Hybrid model sales rose 155% to 981 units. Nationwide, the total hybrid market grew 55%.
Supporting the FCAI’s McKellar’s view that not every Australian wants a small car, Holden said it posted record sales of V8 models – its Commodores use a six-litre unit imported from the US.
Strong sales of high end VE Commodore models saw V8 numbers surpass the record of 10,982 set in 2003 by almost 500.
Sales of all versions to private buyers were also up 35% on 2006, reflecting a growing popularity of the new VE range among families.
The one-time market leader was nonetheless a long way behind Toyota, selling 146,680 vehicles to 236,647, but was well ahead of Ford (108,071).
