New Car Sales Continue To Rise
September 5, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Despite the looming election, an interest rate rise, and the uncertainty of another interest rate rise, Australians continue to buy more and more cars at record numbers.
Figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that 88,206 cars, SUVs and trucks found new owners last month, a remarkable increase of over 6,500 (8%) compared to August 2006 (ahead of the all time record set in 2005 by over 2,000 sales).
Year to date figures are are nearing 700,000 (698,873 – up 56,490 or 8.8% on the same period of 2006) and set to reach the magical 1,000,000 mark by years end.
“The million vehicle market is now a reality, and not withstanding a longer-term reaction to the recent rate rise or other factors, I am confident that the market will continue to comfortably exceed this benchmark through to the end of the year,” FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar said.
Surprisingly, buyers have flocked back to SUVs, with the segment up an enormous 32.9% on the same month last year and the SUV Medium segment up almost 2,000 vehicles or 41.7 per cent.
4×4 Pick-ups were not left behind either with August sales up 1322 or 23.2% on the same month last year. Year to date the segment is now up 10,660 or 23.4%.
Australia’s taste for large cars hasn’t soured either with the Large family car segment up by 1.3%, the entire passenger car market rose by 1.4 per cent in August.
Once again Toyota was the best-selling brand last month with 23.7% of the market, ahead of Holden with 13.8% and Ford on 10.8%.
Print it: 
Why has Toyota got the biggest share of the new car market? It makes what the majority of the public want. Not what the petrol heads want, who represent a small share of the buying public. What should Holden and Ford do, “if you can’t beat them join them”.
You might say Holden has already started with their small/medium car line up. I forgot to mention, Toyota gives you a quality product, unfortunately Holden is offering C grade products at A grade prices.
Ford might be the sleeper. If the Focus/Mondeo take off then they might be in the race. Especially since both are available in diesel.
Tony M,
i dont think people would be going towards toyotas due to economy simply because they comparitivly are no better. maybe there is a perception of greater economy i dont know. dont forget that ford offers the only LPG powered vehicle you can buy, and that halves your running costs, so if people are worried about fuel prices they try to cover that by offering it.
toyotas big winner is their range
yep i agree ford are the biggest sleeper. their up coming range is set to make an assault in a hell of a lot more classes which has been one of their biggest downfalls when it comes to the sales race. and unlike holden, ford will be making an assault with some actually decent vehicles. the other downfall is their pityfull or almost non existant advertising
Andrew – The Aurion is now available with LPG.
Ford and Holden don’t advertise as much because they carn’t.
You know why – because thier budget is up sh*t creek.
You know why – because thier business is inefficent, out of touch with the global community, history of corruption and ill engineered vehicles, poor managment direction and stability all while Toyota guided it’s success with responsibility.
You go on about other cars that will be coming on line from Holden and Ford but have you considered the projects that Toyota has in the pipeline to maintain thier competitivness.
Apart from that, Toyota has the financial muscle to sustain competitive pressure for the extended term of which is alot more then anyone can suggest about the American trio.
Toyota definitely has higher quality, they are actually mimicked and copied a lot, but no one seems to outdo them…
I work in the automotive engineering industry and I am car enthusiast myself… but I have to say, Toyota has better build and quality compared to their american counterparts.
But Toyota is far from perfect, since assembly in US began, and they started getting american suppliers recalls have jumped. But Toyota definitely has a strict quality control, they train their suppliers to their ways, so other companies like Ford and GM actually benefits sometimes… depending on the part supplied. However sometimes, since its an otuside company, quality does slip. But japanese built and assembled cars still maintain some of the lowet recalls in the market. Hmm.. I wonder why :-)
Nissan is probably one manufacturer who continues to cater for the rev heads and I love them for it, but they dont make money… since well.. most of their fans are window shoppers or waiting for second hands…. its true.
So next time you wonder why that toyota was “boring” to you, just remember they designed it to the market who will actually pay for it… and judging by their success… its much bigger than the market you fit in.
Although I have to say, Toyota does have interesting cars on the back burner… but in the end you have to factor in the size of the market… usually toyota puts the Lexus badge on anything high performance… so they can charge the price to go along with it…
but definitely… toyota has more cars designed for the rev heads.. just gonna have to wait until the right time to produce it.
When will they?
They produce good solid, boring cars, that aren’t interesting to drive or look at.
They do a good job on aurion yet fail to improve the camry package?
they have no affordable RWD sedan, no ute, V8s or wagons…
The high performace supercharged aurions are a good start, but have a look at the purchase prices!
When they mix what they have with Mazda driving enjoyment i’ll buy one, they aren’t the best yet.
Also in NA Ford is matching Toyota for customer satisfaction and quality, they aren’t as far behind as many would like to believe.
dingo,
does the aurion now come off the production line with LPG? if so i didnt know that. if not that is what i mean. its one thing to offer LPG from the factory and another to convert the cars.
dingo i agree it is toyotas global strategy that has gotten them to the stage they are at now. this is the part that ford and holden are now set to follow. no longer will ford AUS be set to for for itself as an outlet on the other side of the world that must earn its own dollars to develop their own range of vehicles.
what exciting vehicles does toyota have about to enter the market? they already compete in every segment. what im saying about ford is they are now setting up to compete in categories they havent competed in, either before or for a long time. im saying at last ford is starting to care about something other than the falcon. not that the falcon is a bad product, but they cant rely on it solely as for a business perspective their are a lot of other categories worth competing in now aswell as the large car class
Lol who cares about LPG Andrew.M, congrats Falcons are the number one choice for cabbies because they offer LPG. The Aurion is a car for the people, who for the most part dont want LPG, and it doesnt sell 80% to fleets like some.