Industry Sales Results
Industry Sales Results

April 2017 new vehicle sales, HiLux and Ranger still on top

April's Australia-wide new car sales figures show a deflating 5 per cent fall to 83,135 units over the same month in 2016, continuing the downward trend over 2016's record.


According to VFACTS numbers released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) today, passenger vehicles fell 12 per cent and SUVs fell just over 1 per cent - though medium SUVs like the Mazda CX-5 grew by double digits.

Bucking the trend were light commercials, which grew by about 3 per cent.

In this vein, the top-two selling vehicles once again were utes — the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger. This pair are also 1-2 for the year to date, remarkably enough.

Four small cars filled the top ten (Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, Hyundai i30 and Kia Cerato), with the Mazda CX-5, Holden Colorado and Hyundai Tucson also there.

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said that market activity during April was affected by the impact of the Easter long weekend break, Anzac Day and national school holidays.

“There were two less selling days overall in April this year compared with last, but added to this was the dampening effect that the holiday period had on dealership traffic as many families headed off to enjoy a final break before winter.”


Top brands in April 2017

The top brand as always was Toyota, which dropped 3 per cent to 16,090 units. Also on the podium were Mazda on 8630 (up 2 per cent) and Hyundai on 6850 (down 21 per cent as it ran dry on old i30 stock ahead of the new-generation car's launch).

Next were old rivals Holden (5804, down 13.5 per cent), just a whisker ahead of Ford (5802, down 15 per cent). Next were Mitsubishi (5470, up 31 per cent), a rampant Kia (4120, up 36 per cent), Volkswagen (3867, down 18 per cent) and Subaru (3854, up 22 per cent).

The big surprise was regular top-six brand Nissan, which fell 17 per cent to finish on just 3350 units, ahead of Mercedes-Benz (3312, even), Honda (2827, up a commendable 34 per cent), BMW (1802, down 27 per cent), Isuzu Ute (1665, up 4 per cent), Audi (1391, down 19 per cent) and Suzuki (1191, down 10 per cent).

Smaller companies that bucked the trend and grew their sales over April 2016 included Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Jaguar, Chinese van-maker LDV, Maserati, McLaren, Porsche and Skoda (albeit by 1 per cent).

Additional brands to fall in sales included Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat Professional, Foton, Infiniti, Jeep (by 40 per cent), Land Rover (also by 40 per cent), Lexus, Mini, Peugeot and Volvo Car (by 35 per cent).


Top models in April 2017

Sales leaders by segment:

Micro — 489, down 30 per cent: Mitsubishi Mirage, Kia Picanto and Holden Spark

Light — 5236, down 20 per cent: Hyundai Accent, Toyota Yaris and Mazda 2

Premium light — 297, down 47.5 per cent: Mini and Audi A1

Small — 14,150, down 10.5 per cent: Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3 and Hyundai i30

Premium Small — 1193, down 20 per cent: Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series

Medium — 3363, up 6 per cent: Toyota Camry, Ford Mondeo and Mazda 6

Premium Medium — 1713, down 10 per cent: Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Mercedes-Benz CLA and Audi A4

Large — 1858, down 30 per cent: Holden Commodore, Toyota Aurion and Skoda Superb

Premium Large — 506, up 51 per cent: BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi A6

Upper Large — 89, down 30 per cent: Holden Caprice and Chrysler 300

Premium Upper Large — 55, down 7 per cent: BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Porsche Panamera

People Movers — 951, down 5 per cent: Kia Carnival, Honda Odyssey and Hyundai iMax

Entry Sports — 1537, down 5 per cent: Ford Mustang, BMW 2 Series and Hyundai Veloster

Mid Range Sports — 526, down 18 per cent: Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 4 Series and Audi A5

Premium Sports — 113, down 12 per cent: Porsche 911, Lamborghini Huracan, Aston Martin

Small SUV — 6689, down 5 per cent: Mitsubishi ASX, Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V

Premium Small SUV — 912, down 1 per cent: Audi Q3, Mercedes-Benz GLA and BMW X1

Medium SUV — 11,213, up 17 per cent: Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson and Toyota RAV4

Premium Medium SUV — 1664, down 21 per cent: Land Rover Discovery Sport, Mercedes-Benz GLC and Lexus NX

Large SUV — 8342, down 3 per cent: Toyota Prado,  Toyota Kluger and Hyundai Santa Fe

Premium Large SUV — 1304, down 30 per cent: BMW X5, Audi Q7 and Mercedes-Benz GLE

Upper Large SUV — 1080, down 26 per cent: Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol (just 48)

Premium Upper Large SUV — 164, down 1 per cent: Mercedes-Benz GLS, Lexus LX and Range Rover

Light Vans — 248, down 20 per cent: Volkswagen Caddy, Renault Kangoo and Citroen Berlingo

Medium Vans — 1589, down 9 per cent:: Hyundai iLoad, Toyota HiAce and Volkswagen Transporter

Light/medium buses — 352, down 5 per cent: Toyota HiAce, Mitsubishi Sprinter and Toyota Coaster

4×2 Utes — 3040, down 13 per cent: Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50 and Ford Ranger

4×4 Utes — 11,882, up 11 per cent: Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Holden Colorado


Miscellaneous

Private car sales and government purchases were down, but business and retail fleets were both up. Business sales (36,596) actually eclipsed private ones.

Petrol-powered passenger cars outsold diesel ones by 29,642 to 1542. Petrol SUVs outsold diesel ones by 21,541 to 9613. Light commercials were diesel-dominated. Hybrid vehicle sales equalled 1079.

Leading sources of vehicles: Japan, Thailand, Korea, Germany and Australia.

All states and territories were affected by April’s sales decline, although the two volume selling states, Victoria and NSW, were least affected, both markets down by 2.8 per cent.


Top 10 brands

Sales

Toyota

16,090 (19.4 per cent share)

Mazda

8630 (10.4 per cent share)

Hyundai

6850 (8.2 per cent share)

Holden

5804 (7 per cent share)

Ford

5802 (7 per cent share)

Mitsubishi

5470 (6.6 per cent share)

Kia

4120 (5 per cent share)

Volkswagen

3867 (4.7 per cent share)

Subaru

3854 (4.6 per cent share)

Nissan

3350 (4 per cent share)

 

Top 10 models

Sales

Toyota HiLux

3430

Ford Ranger

3120

Toyota Corolla

2555

Mazda 3

2313

Mazda CX-5

2166

Hyundai i30

1979

Toyota Camry

1885

Holden Colorado

1824

Toyota LandCruiser

1629

Hyundai Tucson

1530

 

Any sales figures not mentioned here that you want to know? Ask away, in the comments. 


Podcast

Listen to the CarAdvice team discuss April's sales figures below, and catch more like this at caradvice.com/podcast.

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