Market Insight: Q3 sales summary

BY MATT BROGAN | 7th Oct 2024

AUSTRALIA might well have close to 70 OEMs jostling for a share of the new car market, but as the third-quarter sales results show, just a handful compete in significant numbers.

September VFACTS sales figures published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) suggest Australia is on track to sell close to or just more than 1.1 million new vehicles again in 2024, with a make/model mix now more diverse than at any point in history.

Newcomers from China are broadening the variety of new vehicles available – particularly in the electrification space – with four new brands joining the Australian market over the past month alone.

As is the case with more established Chinese marques such as GWM and MG Motor, these relative newcomers can achieve a pace of sales that outperforms stalwart Aussie favourites on a regular basis.

That said, the top 10 list remains largely unchanged from months gone by and is of course led by Toyota with its dominant 18.7 per cent share of the market.

Ford (8.6 per cent market share), Mazda (8.5 per cent), Kia (7.9 per cent) and Mitsubishi (6.9 per cent) sit comfortably within the top five, though it is the solid share of sales going to GWM, MG and the increasingly popular BYD that may well change that precedent by as early mid next year.

For now, however, the trend is clear. Australian buyers continue to shop importers with an established market presence.

Hyundai, Isuzu, and Subaru hold fast to their top 10 status, bumping out Volkswagen and Nissan in September. No other marque managed more than 3000 sales for the month.

Apart from Nissan, the only car-makers outside the top 10 to manage more than 2000 sales in September were Tesla (2649 units) and BMW (2340 units), leaving 60-odd brands to fight over the scraps.

OEMs selling more than 1000 units during September included BYD (1826), Chery (1268), LDV (1104), Lexus (1098), Mercedes-Benz (1697), and Suzuki (1723).

The remainder have sold less than 1000 units per month – and in many instances fewer than 100 units per month, with Alfa Romeo (34) and Jaguar (81) in particular underperforming against their nearest rivals.

Unsurprisingly, dual-cab four-wheel drive utes and medium SUVs remain the primary drivers of new-vehicle sales.

September passenger sales of 14,488 units paled against the 56,440 SUVs sold, falling well behind light commercial vehicles (with 21,568 sales).

Year to date, the numbers reflect a continuing trend with 160,231 passenger (17.3 per cent), 520,925 SUV (58.2 per cent), and 207,808 light commercial vehicles (22.2 per cent) sold.

Of all new vehicle sales to the end of Q3, just less than half went to private buyers (471,734 units) with business buyers taking a substantial second place (339,382 units). While the numbers are significant, they reflect a year-on-year slowing of new vehicle sales of -17.2 per cent and -8.8 per cent respectively.

Government (30,080) and rental fleet (47,768) sales remained steadier, down 0.9 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively.

Drilling further into the yearly segmentation list, just a handful of categories achieved a market share of more than five per cent.

Within the passenger segment, only small cars rose above the critical mark with a 7.7 per cent share of the action.

By contrast, three SUV categories exceeded the mark with small SUV, medium SUV and large SUV achieving 14.7 per cent, 22.8 per cent and 11.9 per cent market share points respectively.

The light commercial vehicle segment saw just one contender pass the five per cent mark with the 4X4 utes garnering 16.9 per cent of the overall market.