Australian automotive industry set for stable 2010

By Matt Brogan | January 07th, 2010

To anyone following the news of strong car sales figures this morning, it will come as no surprise to hear that the VACC, the peak Automotive Industry body in Victoria, is predicting a stable year ahead for Australian automotive sales.

The VACC has welcomed today’s announcement that more than 930,000 new vehicles were in Australia in 2009 saying the figures were better than expected despite the Global Financial Crisis.

VFACTS figures, released by FCAI today in Canberra, show 937,328 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were sold nationally in 2009.

“To sell that number of new vehicles during a turbulent twelve months is a very good achievement,” VACC Senior Manager, Government and Public Affairs, David Russell said.

“880,000 new vehicle sales was the target figure for 2009 so to surpass this is a tremendous effort by all concerned.

“Once again, the Australian Automotive Industry has proved to be resilient.”

2009 saw low business and consumer confidence, a credit crunch and a severe downturn in the global vehicle manufacturing sector.

“Today’s figures are a reflection of the determination and flexibility of the Australian work ethic. They also serve as a reminder of the importance of the Automobile Industry to the Australian economy.

“The vehicle manufacturing, retailing and repair industry employs over 250,000 Australians and is a substantial economic multiplier. A good year in new car sales supports many Australians and contributes over $100 billion to the national economy.

“Manufacturers, unions, dealers and consumers should be congratulated on their contribution to the 2009 new vehicle sales figures. And the Government too has played its part well by providing business tax incentives, which stimulated the market.

“Looking ahead, the January 1st tariff reduction of 5 percent has made the new car market even more competitive, making it a good time for prospective buyers to visit their local dealer.

“Now the Automotive Industry is looking forward to continued improvement in 2010.

“A period of consolidation and stability will create an environment in which the Industry can confidently invest, employ and contribute to the economy,” Mr Russell said.

JEKYL & HYDE

i dead set think it will take a miracle to get 2010 to match 2009 figures.by about the end of march(when the investment allowance cars are finally all delivered)everyone will see just how good it really is.the minister for doom and gloom has spoken…
http://skyline The Salesman

Biggest problem now is availability. During the GFC manufacture of new cars slowed dramatically.
Now that new orders have increased manufactures will struggle to meet demand. This in my mind shows we are still more than a year away from a complete recovery from the GFC.
I took an order yesterday for a new Sorento SLI the delivery will be in April. Every other forward ordered Sorento is sold before then.

Safety First

As you and I both know, the other side of the story where this guys prediction falls down is in the number of people who were bought forward by the Tax incentive.. I know that I sold to a lot of customers who still had twelve months left on their finance contracts. These people jumped because of the Govco incentive and the pricing that was offered on new vehicles. What this means is that there will now be a hole in the market, particularly around tax time when these small business people usually upgrade.
2010 is going to be a tough year because the hang over from 2009 will take most of the year to clear.
Won’t worry me because I’ll be out of this stupid industry by then

http://skyline The Salesman

It’s a common opinion that the market has been brought forward by the incentives offered by govco.
Cast your mind back to pre GST. A lot of new sales were “brought forward” supposedly by the fear new car prices would increase.
How many tax incentive sales make up for the total market? Yes, I agree we have brought sales forward but there are still new car buyers out there who had no reason to buy before December 2009
Talk to enough “experts” and you will end up having some sort of brain explosion trying to guess what the market is going to do.
End of the day, people are always going to keep buying cars for what ever reason be it want or need.

Safety First

Not denying that the market will continue, always has always will. However the lull that I am talking about is the one we always had after things like the Motor Show and the Exhibition when for a month around those two items the dealerships were dead.
cast your mind back to when you started with GH & JW and you will remember what I’m thinking of. Both you guys and us at Rothwell all fell into a hole around then. Same as all brissy yards.
Wheelnut

It may be a common opinion that the govt incentives etc have helped increase the number of new car sales etc

However; it doesn’t really matter unless it’s the same opinion as Tomas79′s.

Tomas79

Why you bringing me up into this article??
Don’t tell me I have made your obsession list along with Toyota, Lexus and Skoda…

John H

Most likely taking a page out of your book Tommy-boi,seeing you do the same .

Tomas79

Where did i do that??

Atleast unlike you I haven’t been shamed into using multiple identities!!

IronOreBananabender

Hm, first home buyer grants and government incentives to buy cars, perhaps both leading towards: “Reserve Bank figures show mortgage, credit card and personal loan debts now stand at $1.2 trillion, up 71 per cent from just five years ago and equating to $56,000 for every man, woman and child in the country… for the first time we owe more in household debt than the entire Australian economy earns in a year.” -www.news.com.au We will see how things go if anyone in Australia is sensible enough to start reigning in their debts in 2010. Maybe the strong Aussie dollar will convince people to go ahead and maybe just take one more loan… or maybe rising interest rates will burst a couple bubbles. Should be fun to watch!

spellbound

Spot on iron , get ready for the second wave of the GFC , debt will cripple a lot of individuals and companies , those cashed up will be winners .

All we have done is postpone the day of reakoning , get ready for hefty new taxes , that will really put the skids on the economy .

The govt had to spend spend , to avert unemploment , and social unrest which follows , but we will be copping it in the years to come .

Should be some bargins in cars coming up.

Safety First

The otherside of the equation is that, from the point Australia was (being the operative word) at. We should not have been affected by the GFC.
Okay explanation, nationally we were well down of our dept, as a nation and personally we had our dept covered. We still had a large income (even if it was down) from minning and Farming sector. As the farming sector exports died off we should have just restricted the imports.. Same with the minning sector. Survival of the fitest, and if we have healthy farms suffering because the export market has dropped, why the hell are we buying lemons from California and petrol form where ever whilst our own products suffer the down turn?
Wonderful leadership has been shown during this period I must say.. Ask yourself the question, if you ran a Take Away shop, would you go down the road at lunch time to buy your staff food at Macdonalds??? Would that make good sense to you? Or would you supply them from your own shop??

spellbound

If your shop only has garbage food then you go to maccas , if your product is below standard then you buy else where .

We are now a sophisticated country , no longer making labour intensive goods , cheaper to import .

Japan no longer makes ceramics , or many homewares, too expensive , all coming out of china etc , this is the way of the world .

Educating the rest of the world is now one of our biggest export earners , clever country stuff .

Baby boomers only ever bought aussie made cars , gen y they are well travelled and seek difference , thats life

Safety First

Our Crude oil is some of the finest in the world, our beef, citrus, Cane sugar etc are all top class, why we import lesser quality is beyond me… I scour the shelves and refuse to buy Italian Tomatoes in tins, or Asparagus from bugaria, fish from Vietnam, Lemons from California etc… Not because I’m racist, but because I believe in buying stuff that keeps our country going…

fxh555

Well said Safety First – I do the exact same thing in my supermarket. Similarly, I will continue leasing locally made cars for as long as I can and not fussed if it’s a Holden, Ford or Toyota.

spellbound

Hope you get the payout figure , my experience local stuff never makes the grade , depreciates like a falling rock .

Friends buying local always cry when lease expires .

Safety First

Oh and just to give an example on how things got really strange, I had my third best ever sales month in May last year, before the Govco incentives were announced. I sold plenty and retained reasonable margins… as did a lot of my counterparts.