VFACTS: Sales records tumble in bumper June

TOYOTA’S HiLux was Australia’s top-selling car in June, but its Corolla stablemate still leads the charts at the halfway mark of what is shaping up to be a record-breaking year.

More vehicles were sold in Australia in June 2013 than any other month to date –118,758, topping last June’s then-record 112,566 sales – while the year-to-date figure of 573,711 units is up 4.7 per cent on the 2012 record of 1.12 million annual sales.

The bumper June results also means a financial-year record of almost 1.14 million new vehicles were sold in the last 12 months, according to VFACTS figures released this week.

Reflecting buyers’ increasingly expensive tastes, boom segments included premium light-cars priced at more than $25,000 (165.8 per cent in June), premium small-cars above $40,000 (up up 115.5 per cent), premium large-cars above $70,000 (up 22.7 per cent), and premium small SUVs costing more than $40,000 (up 52.5 per cent).

SUV sales continued their ascent in June and for the half-year, with growth of 8.3 per cent and 10.9 per cent respectively. In all, a total of 170,539 SUVs moved out showroom doors between January and June – almost one in every three vehicles sold overall.

Predictably, Toyota topped the charts in the final month of the financial year – generally the year’s biggest – with 22,160 sales (up 2.4 per cent), enough to top eight segments including light (Yaris with 1564 sales), medium (Camry, 2652) and utes (HiLux, 4931).

From top: Toyota HiLux, Hyundai ix35, Mitsubishi Triton and Volkswagen Golf.

This latter figure made the HiLux range Australia’s top-selling car for the second month in a row, and was enough to make it the second-biggest seller year-to-date (20,721 sales), moving ahead of the Mazda3 (20,077 YTD and 3672 in June).

Corolla still leads all-comers as the most bought car in Australia, however, with 20,970 sales for the first six months of the year (4196 of which came in June).

Number two in June was local hero Holden with 10,483 sales, although this is down 1.4 per cent on last year. The result came thanks to strong performances from its imported Colorado ute (1914 sales combined) and Captiva 5 and 7 SUVs (2248 sales combined), rather than its locally made stable.

Both Cruze (2378, down 23.9 per cent) and Commodore (2147, down 35.1 per cent) failed to fire. It is believed transport delays affected sales of the upgraded VF Commodore launched last month with much fanfare.

Third for the month was Hyundai with 9914 sales (up 2.5 per cent), thanks to massive months for the i30 (3664 sales) and ix35 (2225 sales, a figure no SUV has achieved since the halcyon days of the Ford Territory in 2005, when it sold 2537 units in June of that year).

When i30 sales are combined with the Elantra sedan (934 sales), Hyundai actually topped Toyota in the small-car segment with a total of 4598 sales (compared with the Corolla’s combined hatch and sedan figure of 4196).

Close behind the rampaging Korean car-maker was Ford, fresh off its decision to cease Australian manufacturing in 2016. The Blue Oval sold 9687 cars in June (up 2.5 per cent YTD), with Ranger (2305, an all-time record), Focus (2020, up 29 per cent) and Territory (1574) all strong sellers.

There were 1169 Falcons sold in June, down 18.3 per cent on last June, but noticeably higher than the circa-800 unit results achieved in the past few months.

Mazda’s June result of 9567 sales was only enough for fifth place for the month, but its record half-year total of 52,287 (up 0.3 per cent) launches it into the second half of the year in second place overall, behind Toyota, and remain the most popular full-line importer.

The Japanese company also set a financial-year record of 104,040 cars, up 7.6 per cent.

Mazda Australia managing director Martin Benders said the start of special $19,990 driveaway pricing for the Mazda3 from July 1 should help the perennial best-seller stay strong against key rivals until the all-new version, premiered last week, is launched locally early next year.

Huge months for the Triton ute (3456), Outlander SUV (1251, up 78.2 per cent) and the all-new Mirage (1501 sales) saw Mitsubishi swoop into sixth place with 9257 sales – its highest figures ever as a full importer. Its half-yearly figure of 37,327 sales was also a full-import record.

Nissan’s 9165 sales saw it grow 10 per cent for the month, while its half-yearly figure of 44,065 sales was up 10.5 per cent. However, this figure also trails the half-yearly results of fellow full importers Mazda (52,287) and Hyundai (47,979) – companies that Nissan has vowed to topple.

Volkswagen sold 5220 cars in June, 19.0 per cent fewer than the same month last year. Sales of the Golf (1215), Jetta (162) and Tiguan (437) were all down around 50 per cent. The German company was hit hard by a customer backlash in June over the reliability of some of its fleet.

One bright spot for the brand was the performance of its Amarok ute – the 1007 4x4s it sold in June was 128.9 per cent more than it did in the same month last year.

Rounding out the June top 10 was Honda, with 5061 sales and 23,429 for the half-year (up 22.4 per cent and 45 per cent respectively), followed by Subaru, with 4119 sales in June and 20,713 for the half-year (up 0.4 per cent for the month but down 2.9 per cent YTD).

Other notable performers were Audi, which posted a record 1505 sales in June, up 10.5 per cent, Mercedes-Benz, with 2811 passenger and commercial sales (up 39.8 per cent for the month) and BMW with 2134 sales (up 8.4 per cent).

The exception in the mainstream prestige car race was Japanese contender Lexus, which recorded 651 sales in June and 3329 for the half-year, down 13.8 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively. Expect to see this figure jump when the all-new IS volume range launches later this month.

Other companies to post record sales for June and the year-to-date were Renault (605 sales in June and 2873 YTD) and Mini (282 in June, up 34.9 per cent, and 1295 YTD, up 10.7 per cent).

Alfa Romeo (188 sales, up 28.8 per cent), Fiat (426 sales, up 131.5 per cent), Jaguar (91 sales, up 30 per cent), Jeep (1920 sales, up 27 per cent), Peugeot (708 sales, up 14.6 per cent) and Porsche (140 sales, up 12 per cent) also posted strong June results.

Brands to post negative growth in June (besides those already mentioned) included Citroen (105 sales, down 33.5 per cent), Dodge (157 sales, down 26.3 per cent), Great Wall (9727 sales, down 24.3 per cent), Kia (3131 sales, down 7.9 per cent), Proton (54 sales, down 29.9 per cent), SsangYong (140 sales, down 28.2 per cent) and Volvo (586 sales, down 5 per cent).

Top 10 Brands in June 2013

Rank	Brand	June Sales	YTD Sales
1	Toyota	22,160	106,110
2	Holden	10,483	51,547
3	Hyundai	9,914	47,979
4	Ford	9,687	44,504
5	Mazda	9,568	52,287
6	Mitsubishi	9,165	37,329
7	Nissan	9,165	44,365
8	Volkswagen	5,220	27,654
9	Honda	5,061	23,429
10	Subaru	4,119	20,713

Top Selling Models in June 2013

Rank	Model	Sales
1	Toyota HiLux	4931
2	Toyota Corolla	4196
3	Mazda3	3672
4	Hyundai i30	3664
5	Mitsubishi Triton	3456
6	Toyota Camry	2652
7	Nissan Navara	2641
8	Holden Cruze	2378
9	Nissan Pulsar	2323
10	Ford Ranger	2305