Australian car buyers, asset rich following a prolonged and dramatic boom in property values, barnstormed showrooms in 2003 and bought a record 909,811 cars and commercials, writes Mike Duffy.
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A stable economy, the end of crisis in rural areas, currency gains of 34% in 12 months against the US dollar and general business confidence prompted buyers to buy a host of new vehicles on offer.
Two rises in official interest rates towards the end of the year failed to stall vehicle sales which were 10.4% or 85,502 units greater than the previous high water mark set in 2002.
The executive director of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Peter Sturrock, said 2004 was expected to be another 900,000 vehicle year – with official bank rate rises over the 1% mark the only fundamental which could end exceptional growth.
Car industry leaders are tipping Down Under car sales will top the one million mark before the end of the decade.
Toyota headed the sales charts in nine of the 15 vehicle segments to win back the No. 1 position it last held in 2000, ending Holden’s two year reign. Toyota recorded an 18% rise in sales over its 2002 performance to set a new record for a local manufacturer of 186,370 vehicles, beating the previous high of 178,392 set by Holden in 2002.
This gave Toyota 20.5% of the total market. The carmaker also set an export record of 66,000 cars which earned Australia $A1.4 billion in foreign exchange from more than 20 countries.
Toyota executive chairman John Conomos said: “We had 10 major model introductions for the year and our product story became stronger and stronger.
“You don’t beat a highly successful car company like Holden by accident. We had a strategic plan to finish No 1 from January 1.
“People have found themselves property asset rich because of the real estate boom and have been prepared to use mortgage redraw facility to fund new vehicles. That will continue into 2004.”
He added that international terrorism was another underlying factor behind the growth in car sales: “It is noticeable that luxury car sales are up significantly, suggesting affluent consumers have been choosing to buy a new vehicle rather than take an overseas holiday.”
Toyota dominated the sports utility vehicle (four wheel drive) segment with 28.2% of the total market and topped the light truck/commercial vehicle segment for the 25th consecutive year with a 27.8% market share.
The brand, which internationally soared past Ford to second spot last year behind General Motors, boosted its Australian range to 19 model lines in 2003 – including 150 model variants.
GM affiliate Holden finished the year in second spot, 10,958 vehicles behind the market leader with a 19.3% market share. Ford was one of the big improvers last year with the return to favour of the BA Falcon big car, claiming 126,581 sales for 13.9% of sales.
Mitsubishi Motors was last of the four local carmakers with 72,789 sales for 8%.
Nissan was the most successful full importer with 58,568 sales for 6.4% of the market, 5,351 cars and commercials more than fellow importer Mazda, which topped the 50,000 vehicle mark for the first time.
The Holden Commodore was the top selling car for the eighth consecutive year, posting 86,553 sales for the year. This was 13,333 more than the Ford Falcon, its traditional arch-rival since the late ‘70s – the Holden v Ford big-car battle actually stretches all the way back to 1960 when the Falcon first arrived in Australia to challenge the domestic brand launched in 1948.
Holden led the passenger car market with a 22.5% share and also topped the light commercial vehicle market in the second half of the year for the first time in more than two decades, boosted by such vehicles as the Commodore Utility (the ‘ute’ or pickup truck unibody derivative), five-seat Crewman ute and the return of the One Tonner ‘cab-chassis’ model.
Holden executive marketing director, Ross McKenzie, said his company had been beaten by currency exchange rates which favoured Toyota.
But Conomos claimed he could have sold “substantially” more vehicles if he had not been overly cautious with forward ordering early in the year.
Total sales year by year:
2003: 909,811
2002: 824,309
2001: 772,681
2000: 787,100
1999: 786,845
1998: 807,669
1997: 722,427
1996: 650,047
Top sellers in each segment in 2003:
Light: Toyota Echo [Yaris/Vitz] 16,986
Small: Toyota Corolla 36,128
Medium: Toyota Camry 25,261
Large: Holden Commodore 86,553
People movers (minivans/MPVs): Toyota Tarago [Previa/Estima] 2,736
Sports: Holden Monaro [Pontiac GTO] 2,889
Prestige: Honda Accord [‘US’ and ‘European’ versions combined] 6,204
Luxury: BMW 3 series 5,164
Compact SUV: Nissan X-Trail 12,675
Medium SUV: Toyota Prado [Colorado] 14,639
Large SUV: Toyota LandCruiser 14,425
Luxury SUV: BMW X5 2,506
