Strong growth was experienced in light commercial vehicles, and in particular 4X4 utilities, despite weaker April sales, according to the Australian motor industry’s statistical service VFACTS.
Though total vehicle sales for April fell from 83,135 compared with 87,571 in April 2016, light commercials were up by 3.1%, with 4X4 utilities up 11.1%.
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Two light commercials, the Toyota Hilux and the Ford Ranger, were first and second respectively in national sales during April.
On a year to date basis, sales of both LCVs and SUVs were tracking ahead of last year with light commercials up by 1.8% and SUVs by 1.7%.
The notable market growth across the segments was in medium SUVs, which grew by 10% year on year in April. Among the passenger cars, the medium segment performed best, down 0.2%r. Sales of micro, light and small cars were all adversely affected by the monthly decline.
Tony Weber, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), said market activity during April was affected by the impact of the Easter long weekend break, Anzac Day and national school holidays.
“There were two less selling days overall in April this year compared with last, but added to this was the dampening effect that the holiday period had on dealership traffic as many families headed off to enjoy a final break before winter,” Weber said.
The Toyota Hilux topped the market with 3,430 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger, with 3,120 sales. In third place was the Toyota Corolla [Auris] with 2,555 sales, followed by the Mazda 3 (2,313) and CX-5 (2,166).
Toyota dominated Australia’s April market with a 19.4% share, followed by Mazda (10.4%), Hyundai (8.2%), GM Holden (5,804) and Ford (5,802) both with a 7% share.
Key Points:
- April 2017 sales of 83,135 new vehicle sales was a decrease of 4,436 or -5.1% versus April 2016 (87,571). April (22) had two less selling days than April 2016 (24), which resulted in a decrease of 130.1 vehicle sales per day.
- The passenger vehicle market was down 4,524 sales (-12.3%) versus the same month last year; the SUV market was down 415 (-1.3%); light commercials up by 516 (3.1%); and heavy commercial down 13 (-0.5%).
