New Vehicles Sales Continue in Overdrive

David Crawford Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association says registrations of 12,023  new vehicles for the month of October is the strongest October month since the MIA started collecting records in 1975, bringing the 2014 year to date tally to 106,582 units.  The previous strongest October was back in 1984 with 10,724 registrations.

Not only are distributors of new vehicles closing in fast on the total new vehicle sales of 113,297 units for all of 2013, but they are also on track to exceed the highest ever annual total for new registrations, which were 123,247 units in 1984”.

The total monthly new registrations of 12,023 units are up 1,327 units (12%) on October 2013 and were made up of 8,910 passenger vehicles and 3,113 commercial vehicles.

Year to date, registrations of new commercial vehicles are 5,286 units (20.7%) above this time in 2013 and registrations of passenger vehicles a year to date are 7,166 units (10.4%) above this time in 2013.

Passenger vehicles registrations of 8,910 units during October, were up 948 units (11.9%) on October 2013. Commercial vehicle registrations of 3,113 were up 379 units (13.8%) in October 2013.

Toyota was the overall market leader for the month of October with 26% market share (3,102 units) with Ford second on 11% (1,358 units) and Holden third with 10% (1,218 units).

The Toyota Corolla was the top selling new vehicle model in October with 1,257 new registrations, followed by the Ford Ranger with 627, the Toyota Hilux in 3rd with 514 registrations.

Toyota remains the passenger car market leader for the month of October with 27% share (2,395 units), with Holden second on 11% (966 units) and Hyundai third with 8% (673 units). Toyota was also the commercial vehicle market leader with 23% share (707 units) followed by Ford at 22% (691 units) and Holden third at 8% (252 units).

The Toyota Corolla was once again the top-selling passenger model with 14% market share (1,257 units), followed by the Toyota Yaris on 5% (438 units) and the Holden Commodore on 3% (294 units). The Toyota October results were boosted with strong rental sales made up of 936 Corolla and 311 Yaris registrations for the month.

The Ford Ranger retained its position as the monthly top selling commercial model for October with 20% market share (627 units). The Toyota Hilux was the second best seller with a 17% market share (514 units).  This was followed by the Holden Colorado at 8% (235 units).  Year to date the Ford Ranger has stretched its lead as the top selling commercial model with 16% market share (5,061 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux, also with 16% market share (4,778 units), a lead of 283 units.

The sale of sports utility vehicles continues to be the strongest selling segment with 26% of all vehicles sales in October, followed by small passenger cars at 23% and pick-ups/chassis-cabs with 18%.

“Healthy economic confidence combined with competitive pricing is fuelling strong demand for new vehicles.  The long-run price of new vehicles in real terms continues to improve, over the last 20 years the CPI has increased by 57%, while the real price of vehicles has decreased by 22.5%, a difference of nearly 78% compared to 1994” says Mr. Crawford.