GET A LOAD OF THE UTE SALES

Family workhorses blitz the sedans and hatches

Australians bought more utes and SUVs in June than any other month in our motoring history — and, industry figures show, passenger car sales just keep dropping.

Utes were the top three sellers outright in the biggest sales month of the year. The Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton pushed former favourites Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30 and Mazda3 off the podium.

Despite aggressive discounting from its main rivals, Toyota posted yet another record for the HiLux, with 5787 deliveries topping the previous high in the same month last year.

The top six were closely followed by our two best-selling SUVs, the Mazda CX-5 and Toyota RAV4, then Kia’s Cerato small car.

Holden’s Colorado rounded out the top 10 with its own record June result, having bounced back from a tough start to the year.

Ute sales are strong, analysts say, because they appeal more to family buyers who “treat them like SUVs”, thanks to their added creature comforts and improved safety features.

A veteran Toyota dealer says formerly “the mining boom and construction drove HiLux sales but we’re seeing more families buying HiLux than ever before.”

A Ford dealer says: “People ask where Falcon buyers went. They went into (Ranger utes).”

Even with record tallies, June was tough going for most major brands — the new-car market appears to have reached critical mass. The tally was down by 2.9 per cent on June last year, still the record month, and overstocking means sharp discounts are likely to continue.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries figures are based not on actual registrations but on vehicles “reported as sold”, though in some cases may be delivered to a buyer months later.

Still, the industry figures show sales of sedans, wagons and hatchbacks were down by 11.3 per cent (from 230,200 to 204,350) in the first six months of 2018 year on year.

They have been substituted almost one-forone by SUVs, up 10.7 per cent over the same period (from 233,500 to 258,500).

Utes are also showing continued growth, up 4.7 per cent in the first six months (from 104,250 to 109,150).

Overall, the new-car market slowed so much in June that it dragged down the year-to-date growth to just 1 per cent.

Seven of the top 10 brands — including the top three, Toyota, Mazda and Hyundai — posted sales declines in June. Mitsubishi, Kia and Honda bucked the trend with record gains for the month.

Mitsubishi was boosted by strong sales of the ASX SUV and Triton ute, Kia had a blinder aided by its new Cerato sedan and Sportage SUV and Honda sold record numbers of its SUVs, the CR-V and HR-V.

Former favourites Holden and Ford declined compared with June 2017 — though last month’s results were the best in six months for Holden and in 12 months for Ford.

Volkswagen’s Golf, having posted its best tally in seven years, was edged out of the top 10 by the Colorado ute — though VW also cashed in on the ute boom with a new sales high for the Amarok.