Small cars and SUVs, together with continued strong demand for light commercials, drove Australia’s new vehicle market to record sales in October, ironically the month in which local General Motors brand Holden ended local production after 69 years. Earlier in the month, Toyota built its last car, ending a run that began with local KD kit assembly in 1963.
According to the motor industry’s official statistical service, VFACTS, October sales reached a new high of 95,763, surpassing the previous October record set in 2012.
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Two small cars and a light commercial vehicle were the nation’s top three sellers for October, reflecting the surge in demand within those segments.
With two months remaining, total industry sales were 0.5% ahead of last year’s record at 984,931, versus 980,433 a year ago.
Six record months of sales have now been posted during 2017.
Australia’s overall passenger car sales declined by 3.8% in October despite the 9.7% upsurge in the demand for small models. Year to date, passenger cars were down 6.9% year on year.
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By GlobalDataInstead, SUVs and light commercials continued their strong climb. The SUV market grew by 1.2% in October while light commercials soared 18.5%due to “very strong” demand for 4X4 cab-chassis models (up by a 25.2%).
Within the SUV segment, the star performers for October were in the small category (up 12.6%) and medium category (up 6.1%).
Japan was Australia’s biggest source of imported vehicles (27,062 last month), followed by Thailand (22,826) and Korea (15,395).
Australian manufacture is almost over with Ford closing its factories in 2016, Holden last month and
Toyota remained Australia’s top brand with an 18.6% share of the October market. Hyundai surged to second place (9.2%) followed by Mazda (8.4%), Holden (8.1%) and Ford (6.0%).
The best selling vehicle last month was the Hyundai i30 (3,983), followed by the Toyota Hilux (3,812), Toyota Corolla (3,088), Ford Ranger (3,074) and Holden Commodore (2,418).
