New car sales figures for April 2017 have been released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
Overall the market was down on the corresponding month last year. In April the sales tally reached 83,135 new vehicles, this represents a decrease of 4436 vehicle sales or 5 per cent.
Tony Weber, the Chief Executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, 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,” Mr Weber said.
It’s was business as usually for Toyota, the Japanese giant was able to command a 19.4 per cent share of the market in April, followed by Mazda with 10.4 per cent, Hyundai with 8.2 per cent.
Remarkably, two utes sit at the top of the sales chart with the Toyota HiLux holding off the challenge offered by the Ford Ranger. Toyota also continues to enjoy success with the Corolla, Camry and LandCruiser.
With the brilliant new generation Civic kicking goals, Honda were able to secure a massive 34 per cent increase. A new Civic hatch and CR-V will be available shortly, so the sales will surely continue to increase.
Former pacesetters Holden and Ford were down 13.5 and 15 per cent, respectively. Both brands continue to fall and don’t appear to have the desire to proactively address the slide.
Nissan was another brand to return disappointing figures in April. Recent updates to the Pathfinder and Navara were not enough to hold their market share, Nissan recorded a drop of 17 per cent over April 2016.
Despite the advertising spend, Jeep is still not generating any traction on the back of its new There and Back Guarantee. This is a great example of being reactive and not proactive in addressing market concerns.
Interestingly, the Passenger Vehicle Market is down 12.3 per cent over the same month last year, while SUVs were only down by 1.3 per cent.
Top 10 brands - April 2017
1 - Toyota - 16,090
2 - Mazda - 8630
3 - Hyundai - 6850
4 - Holden - 5804
5 - Ford - 5802
6 - Mitsubishi - 5470
7 - Kia - 4120
8 - Volkswagen - 3687
9 - Subaru - 3854
10 - Nissan - 3350
Top 10 models - April 2017
1 - Toyota HiLux - 3430
2 - Ford Ranger - 3120
3 - Toyota Corolla - 2555
4 - Mazda3 - 2312
5 - Mazda CX-5 - 2166
6 - Hyundai i30 - 1979
7 - Toyota Camry - 1885
8 - Holden Colorado - 1824
9 - Toyota LandCruiser - 1629
10 - Hyundai Tucson – 1530
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