Car market gets a sporting chance
BY JAMES STANFORD | 2nd Nov 2009
Official VFACTS sales data suggests otherwise. In September, Australians bought 1691 sportscars – a 17.1 per cent rise on September 2008. This went against the trend of the overall market, which fell 3.5 per cent.
The September sportscar result was not only better than the 1444 result of September 2008, but also better than the sales tally for the same month in 2007 (1529) and 2006 (1171).
The picture isn’t quite as bright when you look at sales data from the first nine months of the year, which shows 12,786 have been shifted compared with 13,611 from the same period of 2008.
That represents a 6.1 per cent decline, which still compares favourably to the 13.1 per cent decline of the new car market in Australia this year.
Looking at other VFACTS segments shows just how well sportscars are doing during the current financial hardship. Year-to-date figures show large-car sales are down 18.2 per cent, ‘upper-large’ cars have tumbled 40.2 per cent, medium cars have fallen 16.9 per cent, people-movers 20.0 per cent and large SUVs 37.9 per cent.
So what is causing the sportscar growth? One theory is that now there is some light at end of the economic tunnel, more people are prepared to buy the kind of overtly expensive vehicles at the top end of the sportscar class.
A senior executive of a luxury brand told GoAuto late last year: “Most of our potential customers still have the money to buy new cars, but don’t want to, given a lot of other people are doing it tough.”But the growth is not even. The industry scorekeeper VFACTS splits sportscars into three segments: Sports below $80,000, Sports between $80,000 and $200,000 and Sports above $200,000.
The Sports above $200,000 segment is struggling. It is down a hefty 45.2 per cent for the year and 32.4 per cent for September.
The $80,000 to $200,000 bracket is down 6.6 per cent for the year so far, although it did have a great September with a 56.2 per cent spike.
It is the Sports below-$80,000 class that is really driving the whole sports market. This sub-segment grew 6.9 per cent in September and has recorded a decline of just 0.8 per cent year-to-date.
New-model activity in the ‘more affordable’ sportscars sub-segment is one factor behind this strong showing.
In the past year, models such as the Audi A3 convertible, BMW 1 Series convertible and the Mercedes-Benz C-class Sports Coupe are likely to have attracted new buyers to the segment.
Some of the cars in the sportscar class do not look like sportscars. The Mercedes C-class coupe is one example, as is the Kia Cerato Koup and Saab 9-3 convertible, which only employees of the respective producers would call sporty.
Convertibles of any shape and size are also bundled into to the segment, along with coupes of various guises, out-and-out track specials such as the Lotus 211 and supercars such as the Porsche 911, Audi R8 and all the Ferraris and Lamborghinis.
While it is reassuring that sportscars are selling strongly, dealers are not letting off any party poppers because the segment is one of the smallest. Only people movers, upper large and large SUV segments are smaller.
That said, the sportscar segment, given it is effectively made up of prestige cars (with some exceptions including the Kia) that generally have fat margins.
Although the segment is not large, the fact that more Australians are buying more sporty cars than a year ago is a genuine positive.