Australian Car Sales Continue Downwards Trend.
Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries has released the latest sales figures for 2020, and not unexpectedly, it shows that the nation’s new car buying habits are continuing to be affected by the pandemic.
August for this year saw 60,986 new vehicle sales. That’s 24,647 or 28.8% less than August of 2019, and includes one fewer selling day or approximately 831 vehicle sales. or -28.8% on August 2019 (85,633) vehicle sales. August 2020 had one less selling day (25.8) than August 2019 and this resulted in a decrease of 831.5 vehicle sales per day. In the Passenger Vehicle segment, August had a reduction of 11,035 for a 42.8% decrease, whilst the Sports Utility segment went backwards by 6,652 or 17.0% compared to August 2019. This month also marked the first time a Hybrid vehicle saw the number 1 spot, with the Toyota RAV4 topping the charts.
Last year’s August figures had 1,049 hybrid SUV sales, with this year notching 4,809 sales. In a Year To Date measurement, it’s 20,566 against just 5,205 for 2019. The PHEV or Plug-in Hybrid EV sector also grew, with 74 in August 2020 against 63 for the corresponding moth last year.
The RAV4 range dominated sales on its own, with 24,768 sales YTD and 4,825 for August. In second place was Mazda’s CX5, with 13,830 and 1,884 respectively. The RAV4’s increase represents a YTD percentage increase of 140.5 and a monthly percentage increase of 55.4.
For the 4×4 pick-up sector, Ford’s Ranger outsold the Mitsubishi Triton and Toyota HiLux in August. 2,718 were sold, over 1,278 for the Triton and 936 for the Hilux. On a YTD basis the Ranger was barely ahead of the HiLux, with the figures showing 22,923 over 20,263 whilst Triton’s YTD figures were 10,914.
The RAV4 contributed to Toyota topping the sales charts for August, with 12,449 sales. Mazda took the silver on 6,921 sales whilst the Korean duo took it to the wire. Hyundai notched 4,525 sales, Kia with 4,521 sales, and just shaded Mitsubishi with 4,308 sales. In the Small car segment Corolla just edged the i30, with 1,464 over 1,429, with Kia’s Cerato in third on 1,264. There was a surprise in the Light Cars $25K+ segment, with the Chinese owned MG brand selling 654 MG3s, ahead of Kia’s Rio on 445. The Camry absolute blitzed the under $60K medium segment with 910, whilst the Skoda Octavia stole second over the Mazda6, with 182 to 174.
For the Large Car segment in both the under and over $70K bracket, Kia’s Stinger swept all before it with 178, triple that of the Mercedes-E-Class on 53. Kia also dominated the People Mover category, with the soon to be updated Carnival seeing 284 sales. Hyundai’s iMax was a distant second at 72. the Sports cars segment had the Mustang continue its winning way in both under and over $80, with 147 new sales, nearly doubling both the Hyundai Veloster (78) and Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe/Convertible (75).
Breaking down the Passenger Car segment has Toyota on 2,700, nudging Kia at 2,515. Hyundai took third with 1,776.
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