Holden SUVS help to stem sales rot
Holden’s SUV line-up helped to apply the brakes to the company’s sales decline last month, with the new Equinox, Trailblazer and Trax all registering a lift in volume over the corresponding month last year.
But while Holden’s SUV sales were up 44.8 percent compared with April last year, its passenger-car range continued to flounder, down 46 percent, according to official VFACTS data released last week.
Overall Holden sales were down 21.2 percent, to a historic low of 4576 vehicles in an Australian newcar market level-pegging with April last year, at 82,930 vehicles, down just 0.2 percent.
The Australian new-vehicle market continues to be underpinned by SUVS, particularly the small variety that were up by a third last month.
SUVS accounted for more than 43 percent of new vehicle sales last month, while traditional passenger cars – down 14.4 percent – slipped below a third for the first time.
At Holden, the imported Holden ZB Commodore and Astra are still struggling to find sales traction. Commodore sales were down almost 60 percent last month, to just 587 units.
Of those vehicles, about a quarter were left-over locally made VF Com- modores, meaning the German-made liftback sedan and wagon attracted fewer than 500 buyers.
Astra sales slumped 37.2 percent, to 497 sales, but the one-size smaller Barina was a glimmer of light, up 37.7 percent from a low base, to 269 units, to help Holden seize sixth place on the sales ladder – up from a perilous 10th last month.
While Holden continues to search for its new level as an importer, rival former manufacturer Toyota has no such issues. It smashed the market in April, selling 16,647 vehicles – up 3.5 percent on the same month last year.
Its share topped a daunting 20 percent for the month, more than double the share of its nearest competitor Mazda, with 9.3 percent.
Toyota’s top-selling Hilux ute continued to reign supreme on the bestseller’s list, with 3596 April sales, while the ever-reliable Corolla small car was runner-up, with 2979 sales, displacing Ford’s Ranger ute into third spot with 2796 sales.
Mazda’s 7723 sales – down 10.5 percent – were driven primarily by the Mazda3 small car, 2261 sales, and CX-5 medium SUV, 1725. Thirdplaced Hyundai edged closer to Mazda in April, its sales up 4.1 percent, to 7132 units, on stronger sales of the Tucson mid-sized SUV, 1816, up 18 percent.
Mitsubishi’s small ASX SUV – the best-selling vehicle in its class with 1706 sales in April – aided the Japanese company to hang on to fourth place with 5508, which is a fraction up on last year.
Ford’s 16.9 percent sales decline last month is at least partly attributable to a 40.4 percent drop in sales of its hotselling Mustang, 381 sales, ahead of a substantial facelift next month.
Ford achieved 4822 sales for the month, more than half of which were made up by its locally developed Ranger ute, despite a 13.3 percent decline in sales of the most popular 4x4 version.
The Ranger was not Robinson Crusoe in the light-commercial vehicle segment which recorded a rare slip, down 5.9 percent in April.
Again, this hiatus might be caused by LCV buyers taking a break while waiting for the annual end-of-financial year sales blitz through May and June.
In the luxury car segment, Mercedes-benz continued to hold sway in April, with 2527 sales, despite a 10.8 percent dip.