New vehicle sales report – 2013

Australians signed on the dotted line for more than one million new vehicle sales in 2013, for just the sixth time on record. The final tally last year ended at 1,136,227 vehicle sales. Loosely broken down, that’s 566,454 passenger vehicle sales, 333,511 SUVs, 204,566 light commericals and 31,696 heavy commercials.

Looking at the different market segments Tony Weber, FCAI Chief Executive, said: “Passenger cars remained the largest selling category in 2013 with 49.9 per cent of the market. However, this is a slight decrease compared to 2012, where passenger cars held 51.7 per cent of the market.

“The SUV and light commercial segments increased their share of the market in 2013, holding 29.4 and 18 per cent, respectively, compared to 27.6 and 17.8 per cent in 2012.”

The list of best selling car makers was headed by Toyota (214,630), Holden (112,059), Mazda (103,144), Ford (87,236) and Nissan (76,733).

Despite all the doom and gloom over the country’s financial state it’s worth nothing that almost all prestige car makers with a presence in Australia recorded an increase in sales compared with 2012: Aston Martin (+5.3%), Audi (+10.1%), Bentley (+86.2%), BMW (+11.5%), Ferrari (+8.2%), Lexus (+1.2%), Jaguar (+40.6%), Maserati (+8.1%), Mercedes-Benz (+23.0%), McLaren (+13.0%) and Porsche (+38.7%).

While the overall volumes for the prestige makers isn’t always high, the three main players—Audi (+1,474 sales), BMW (+2,109) and Mercedes-Benz (+5,150)—are statistically relevant. Even Porsche sold 532 more new cars in 2013. That’s 44 per month, or almost 1.5 more sales every day.

In contrast, despite the overall new vehicle market growing by 2.2% (24,195 sales) in 2013, the top three sellers all recorded a slight drop in sales on 2012 results: Toyota (-3,546 sales, -1.6%), Holden (-2,606 sales, -2.3%) and Mazda (-742 sales, -0.7%).

Indeed, of the top six selling car makers, only Hyundai recorded a growth in sales (+5,470 sales, +6.0%), with Ford (-3,172 sales, -3.5%) and Nissan (-3,014 sales, -3.8%) registering declines.

The highest selling models were the Toyota Corolla (43,498), Mazda3 (42,082) and Toyota HiLux (39,931). The best selling Australian made car (while we can still use that phrase) was the Commodore (27,766), in fifth place, behind the Hyundai i30 (30,582).

NOTE: You may have noticed we stopped doing a monthly report on sales figures last year. Please let us know if that is something you would like to see return in 2014.

Toyota Corolla, Australia’s top selling car in record 2013 market

6 January 2014

Australians bought a record 1,136,227 cars in 2013. The most popular choice was the Toyota Corolla, with 43,498 sales (3.8 per cent of the market). The Corolla was followed by the Mazda3 (42,082), Toyota HiLux (39,931) Hyundai i30 (30,582) and Holden Commodore (27,766).

Toyota also took the title of top selling brand with 18.9 per cent of the market. It was followed by Holden with 9.9 per cent, Mazda with 9.1 per cent, Hyundai with 8.5 per cent and Ford with 7.7 per cent.

Releasing the 2013 full-year sales results, FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said he saw some interesting trends in 2013. This included the continuing popularity of the small passenger car, the strong growth in the small SUV market and the significant increase in private buyer purchases of light commercial vehicles.

“Passenger cars remained the largest selling category in 2013 with 49.9 per cent of the market. However, this is a slight decrease compared to 2012, where passenger cars held 51.7 per cent of the market,” Mr Weber said.

“The SUV and light commercial segments increased their share of the market in 2013, holding 29.4 and 18 per cent, respectively, compared to 27.6 and 17.8 per cent in 2012.”

Sales in most states and territories across Australia rose in 2013 compared to 2012; however, sales in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia decreased slightly (by around 1­–2 per cent in each jurisdiction). Tasmania saw exceptional growth, up 14.6 per cent compared to 2012. Sales in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales grew by around 2.5 per cent and sales in South Australia and Victoria grew by around 4 per cent.

In 2013, government purchases were down a significant 20.2 per cent, or 10,291 vehicles. Business purchases were also down by a total of 1.1 per cent. However, business purchases in the SUV segment increased by 5.9 per cent.

Private sales were up a total of 8.1 per cent. This included a 37.2 per cent rise in private purchases of light commercial vehicles.

The Australian-made Holden Commodore, Toyota Camry and Holden Cruze were all in the top ten list for sales in 2013. The Ford Falcon also features in the top 20.

The 1,136,227 sales is 2.2 per cent higher than the 2012 sales result of 1,112,032 vehicles.

Top 10 manufacturers in Australia (by sales) – 2013

Rank	Manufacturer	2013	2012	Change (%)
1	Toyota	214,630	218,176	-1.6
2	Holden	112,059	114,665	-2.3
3	Mazda	103,144	103,886	-0.7
4	Hyundai	97,006	91,536	+6.0
5	Ford	87,236	90,408	-3.5
6	Nissan	76,733	79,747	-3.8
7	Mitsubishi	71,528	58,868	+21.5
8	Volkswagen	54,892	54,835	+0.1
9	Subaru	40,200	40,189	0.0
10	Honda	39,258	35,812	+9.6

Top 10 individual models in Australia (by sales) – 2013

Rank	Model	2013	2012	Change (%)
1	Toyota Corolla	43,498	38,799	+12.1
2	Mazda3	42,082	44,128	-4.9
3	Toyota HiLux	39,931	40,646	-1.8
4	Hyundai i30	30,582	28,348	+7.9
5	Holden Commodore	27,766	30,532	-10.0
6	Toyota Camry	24,860	27,230	-9.5
7	Mitsubishi Triton	24,512	18,502	+32.5
8	Holden Cruze	24,421	29,161	-19.4
9	Nissan Navara	24,108	26,045	-8.0
10	Ford Ranger	21,752	18,097	+20.2

State/Territory results (by sales) – 2013

Rank	State/Territory	2013	2012	Change (%)
1	New South Wales	351,050	341,211	+2.9
2	Victoria	307,292	293,778	+4.6
3	Queensland	233,139	235,025	-0.8
4	Western Australia	125,544	128,005	-1.9
5	South Australia	70,491	67,999	+3.7
6	Tasmania	19,458	16,981	+14.6
7	Australian Capital Territory	17,860	17,435	+2.4
8	Northern Territory	11,393	11,598	-1.8
	Total	1,136,227	1,112,032	+2.2

(Source: VFACTS)