David Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association says, “Year to date the new vehicle sector passed 100,000 registrations during August, the quickest ever in a calendar year. By way of comparison, at the height of the global financial crisis in 2009 there were only 45,384 vehicles sold to the end of August compared to 103,923 this year, a 129% increase. Registrations were 11.3% above this time in 2016 and registration of 13,063 vehicles for the month of August were up 3.0% on August 2016.”
“The mix of vehicles registered in August shows changing consumer preferences. While passenger car and SUV registrations of 8,607 units were down 3.2% (289 units) on August 2016, registrations of 4,456 commercial vehicles for the month of August were up by 17.9% (675 units) on August 2016. Registrations of SUVs remain strong however growth in registrations of passenger vehicles continues to weaken. Nevertheless, year to date Passenger and SUV registrations still remain 7.5% (4,851 units) above this time in 2016 and commercial vehicle registrations are up 19.6% (5,691 units)” said David Crawford.
Toyota remains the overall market leader with 19% market share (2,511 units), followed by Ford with 10% (1,305 units) and Holden with 8% market share (1,071 units).
Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 16% market share (1,397 units) followed by Mazda with 9% (814 units) and Holden with 8% market share (686 units). The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota Corolla (540 units) followed by the Kia Sportage (370 units) and the Mitsubishi Outlander (296 units).
In the commercial sector, Toyota was again the market leader with 25% (1,114 units) followed by Ford with 19% (833 units) and Holden a distant third with 9% market share (385 units). The Ford Ranger lost its spot as the best selling model to the Toyota Hilux with 17% share (779 units) of the commercial sector to the Ranger’s 15% share (690 units). Year to date the Ford Ranger remains both the top commercial vehicle model and the top model overall with 6,320 registrations compared to 5,497 for the Toyota Hilux.
Vehicle segmentation for the month of August reflects the strong monthly registrations of the Toyota Corolla. The top segments were SUV medium with 15% share, followed by Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 with 14% and Small passenger vehicles with 11% market share. Normal business resumes with the next three largest segments being SUVs and the Pick Up/Chasis 4x2 segments.
