Toyota Hilux shows the way
Market leader Toyota sold almost as many Hilux utes as Holden sold vehicles across its entire range in Australia last month, August sales figures from VFACTS show.
The Hilux kept ploughing ahead at the top of the sales table, earning 4275 sales – on par with the same month in 2017 – to help lift Toyota to a monthly sales tally of 18,833 vehicles, up 1.7 percent on August last year.
By contrast, Holden sales were down 37.6 percent, to 4356 units, as every model across its range slipped into negative territory.
The Commodore was worst hit with a 67 percent plunge, to just 682 units, as stock of the locally produced model continues to dry up.
Holden languished in ninth place on the sales ladder last month, with a market share of 4.6 percent, while its one-time peer, Toyota, grabbed a 19.8 percent share – up 0.6 percentage points.
Holden’s decline – down 2628 units for the month – was sufficient to push the overall market into the red in August, down 1.5 percent, to 95,221 vehicles.
However, gains in SUVS helped to offset a 13.4 percent decline in passenger-car sales and a 1.9 percent dip in light-commercial-vehicle volume. That small overall decline was just enough to drop the industry’s yearto-date below the 2017 running rate, which is now down 0.3 percent on 786,294 sales.
The big winner in August was second-placed Mazda, whose sales rose 26.2 percent, to 10,740 vehicles, thanks to a big sales push that netted major gains in sales of its core models – the Mazda3 small car, CX-5 medium SUV, Mazda2 light hatch and BT-50 ute.
Hyundai, in third place, also enjoyed a sales rise, up 2.6 percent to 8006 vehicles, while Mitsubishi continued its strong performance with a 6.3 percent gain, to 7067 units.
Ford’s recent good form took a 10.3 percent hit, its sales down to 5962, placing it in fifth position ahead of Volkswagen, 4637 sales, down two percent, Kia, 4620 sales, up 2.5 percent, and Nissan with 4440 sales, up 8.4 percent.
SUV sales are running at record pace, with August’s tally of 41,271 units the best yet for that month and representing an 8.3 percent rise on the corresponding period last year. Year to date, the SUV gain is 9.0 percent.
Last month, two of the SUV segment’s big winners were the segmenttopping Mazda CX-5 with 2599 units, up 26.9 percent, and Toyota Prado, 2019, up 79.1 percent.
Toyota’s Corolla took out the passenger-car crown, with 3033 sales, despite being in changeover to a new model.
In second place again was the Mazda3 on 2969 sales.
In the pick-up segment, Toyota’s Hilux, 4275, showed a clean pair of heels to Ford’s Ranger, 3515, and Mitsubishi’s Triton, 1742.
In the luxury segment, MercedesBenz sales slipped 11.5 percent, to 2595 vehicles, as it ran out its old Cclass stock ahead of the arrival of the facelifted model.
However, it was still able to finish ahead of BMW, 1760, down 12.2 percent, and Audi, 067, down 25.8 percent, with the latter hit by a 49.3 percent decline in A4 sales.