October New Car Sales Continue To Show A Downwards Slide.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the peak body for the automotive industry in Australia, has released new vehicle sales figures for the month of October 2019.
According to Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, new vehicles have now seen the nineteenth consecutive month of decreasing sales in the Australian market, with October 2019 sales down 9.1% compared to October 2018. “Year to date sales of new motor vehicles in 2019 are almost 78,000 units (eight per cent) lower than the same period in 2018.
“While the drought and other domestic conditions are impacting the market, our key concern is the effect over-regulation of the financial sector is having on new vehicle sales. The FCAI and our members have been concerned about the risk averse approach to lending in Australia for some time and see improved access to finance as a key to driving economic growth in 2020” Mr Weber said. “Of particular interest is the fact that sales are down across all buyer types, with private sales down 5.2 per cent compared to October 2018, business sales are down 8.2 per cent and government sales are down 7.3 per cent.”
Total sales for the month numbered 82,456 vehicles, a decrease of 8,262 vehicles, or 9.1 per cent, on October 2018. During the month, the Sports Utility Market (38,648 units) fell by 3 per cent compared to October 2018, while the Passenger Vehicle Market (23,553 units) was down 15.3 per cent, and the Light Commercial Market (17,164) decreased by 11 per cent.
The Toyota Hilux (3,516 units) was the top selling vehicle in October 2019, followed by the Ford Ranger (3,160). The Hyundai i30 (2,216) was followed by the Toyota RAV4 (2,132) and the Toyota Corolla (2,117). Toyota remained the top selling marque for the month with 16,988 sales for 20.6 per cent market share, followed by Hyundai (7,455 for 9 per cent market share), Mazda (6,370 sales for 7.7 per cent market share), Kia (5,062 sales for 6.1 per cent market share) and Ford (4,891 for 5.9 per cent market share).
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