New Car Sales May 2018 - CarConversation

Details: Written by James Kelly; Published: 05 June 2018

According to VFACTS figures released today, Australian’s purchased 100,754 new cars in May, down slightly on the corresponding month last year.

May is traditionally a slower month for new car sales before a June rebound as the financial year comes to an end.

Despite a cooler May, the market remains on track to beat the record set in 2017. Overall, new car sales are year-to-date 2.1 per cent higher than the first five months of last year.

Sales of SUVs defied the minor downturn with an increase of 8.4 per cent, passenger cars dropped 15.6 per cent while light commercial vehicles saw a slim 0.5 per cent fall.

The Toyota Hilux remained Australia’s top-selling vehicle in May, posting 4385 sales. In second place was the Ford Ranger with 3674, followed by the Toyota Corolla with 3120 registrations.

Toyota remained the market leader with a 19.4 per cent market share, followed by Mazda with 9.3 per cent, Hyundai (8.7 per cent) and Mitsubishi (6.9 per cent).

Toyota’s SUV range totalled more than 7500 units, the brand says these numbers are record-breaking. Toyota’s cake was iced with the performance of the LandCruiser 70 and 200 Series models, the high priced utes and wagons reached a tally of 2396 sales. When you consider the pricing of these models (they aren’t cheap) the result is remarkable.

Kia continued its run of success comfortably climbing into the top ten. Sharp deals on the run-out Cerato obviously helped. In fact, the Cerato was within striking distance of a top ten finish.

Of the lower volume brands, Great Wall moved 80 utes (up 81.8 per cent), no doubt the arrival of the single cab Steed earlier this year has made a difference. Other Chinese brands that recorded an improvement were MG with 209 sales and LDV with 506 units this translated to an upturn of 242.6 per cent and 191 per cent respectively.

For the first time in ages, Jeep had a win, albeit a narrow one, the SUV maker notched up 728 registrations, up 3.9 per cent.

Moving to the fancy stuff, Volvo continued to build momentum to be up 41 per cent (567) while Land Rover (850, up 20.7 per cent) returned to form on the back of strong deals that included free servicing and extra warranty coverage.

Italian luxury brand Maserati dropped 21.9 per cent (50) and Porsche fell a significant 39.5 per cent (260).

Top 10 selling new vehicles - May 2018

Toyota HiLux - 4385

Ford Ranger - 3674

Toyota Corolla - 3120

Hyundai i30 - 2779

Mazda 3 - 2586

Toyota LandCruiser - 2396

Mazda CX-5 - 2382

Toyota RAV4 - 2063

Mitsubishi ASX - 2029

Mitsubishi Triton - 2026