VFACTS October 2021: Low sales month shows local impact of chip shortage

Australia’s new-car market has suffered the worst October in almost 20 years as the industry feels the pressure of supply issues and lockdowns.

The latest official industry data reveals 74,650 vehicles were sold last month. The figure represents an eight per cent drop on October 2020, more than 11 per cent behind September this year – and is the lowest October since 2002 when 72,332 new cars were sold.

Total sales for the year now stand at 890,790, an 18 per cent increase on this time last year – when the market continued to be most heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

New South Wales again accounted for the biggest slice of the nation’s new-car sales, despite a fall of 12 per cent to 24,380 units. Victoria's 18,701 result was up six per cent on a troubled September 2020, and also still higher than Queensland’s 16,159 units, which was down 10 per cent.

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2021 Ford Ranger

Industry body the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) said the lower sales month represents the impact of ongoing microprocessor shortages on international supply chains, but the supply of vehicles to Australia is expected to stabilise in 2022.

Chief Executive Tony Weber said it was clear manufacturers were having challenges with supply chains.

“Automotive manufacturers like all those in the global manufacturing sector are dealing with a microprocessor shortage, which is leading to longer wait times to get products to market. Australians are continuing to purchase vehicles, and carmakers are working to deliver products to our shores,” Mr Weber said.

Passenger car sales are down almost 12 per cent compared with this month last year and are up only five per cent year to date. October sales of 15,952 places passenger cars behind light commercial vehicles (19,344 units) and the dominant SUVs (35,343 units).

Ute sales lead the way for individual segments. Combined 4x4 and 4x2 ute figures are 16,769, and 14,058 units for 4x4 utes alone still places them above the next most popular category of mid-sized SUVs (11,327 units).

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2021 Toyota HiLux

Large SUVs were fourth in October despite a 16 per cent sales decrease to 9605 units – outplayed by small SUVs which came third with 9711 units.

Small-car sales managed 7892 units, but were down nearly 17 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Micro cars were the biggest grower in October, with a 67 per cent increase on the same time in 2020, albeit representing just 979 vehicles. People-movers were up almost nine per cent to 698 units for the month versus this time last year.

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2022 Toyota LandCruiser Prado

Top 10 models

The Ford Ranger outsold the Toyota HiLux for the fourth time this year, making the ute the best-selling vehicle for October with 4135 units sold.

Year-to-date however, the Toyota HiLux still rules the roost with 44,752 shifted compared to Ford’s 41,686 Rangers, with an October tally of 3961.

Due to Toyota’s strife with supply issues in recent months, two of its models fell out of the top 10 entirely for October – the Camry and Prado both disappearing from the line-up after the Camry only made its first appearance of the year in September.

The Hyundai i30 maintained its 100 per cent top 10 record for 2021 with 1946 sales, although outsold by the rival Corolla with 1989 – it enjoyed a 36 per cent rise compared to the latter’s two per cent increase.

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2021 Hyundai i30

Isuzu's D-Max has also never left the top 10 this year, notching up 1694 sales, but unfortunately there was no such luck for the Mazda BT-50 which flew into the best-sellers list in September and out in October.

Mazda suffered another top 10 loss, with the ever-popular CX-5 dropping out for the second time this year.

Mitsubishi’s ASX compact SUV made its fourth appearance of 2021 in the top 10, though the company’s Triton ute has missed out for the fourth consecutive month after being a regular fixture in the first half of the year.

New in for October are the Hyundai Tucson (1532 units), Nissan X-Trail (1420) and Kia Cerato (1381).

With just two months of 2021 remaining, the HiLux remains likely to be Australia’s favourite vehicle yet again. Toyota’s RAV4 and Corolla also look well set to win their respective SUV and small-car segments.

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2021 Isuzu D-Max

Top 10 models: October 2021

Top 10 models: 2021 year to date

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2021 Mazda CX-5

Top 10 brands

Toyota felt the fallout of its factory shutdowns last month dropping more than 5000 sales in October.

The Japanese brand dropped by 21 per cent versus October 2020.

Normally second-placed Mazda suffered a 31 per cent decline to post 5181 sales for October compared to the same time last year – swapping spots with Hyundai, which took silver with 6115 – a rise of three per cent on 2020.

Ford Australia remained a constant in third, with a five per cent drop and 5462 units shifted.

Korean brand Kia ended up in fifth with 4853 cars sold, a decrease of nine per cent on last year, with Mitsubishi next in line with 4203 and seven per cent down.

Nissan made it back into the top 10 manufacturers list after disappearing for three months on the trot, with British-cum-Chinese brand MG notching up 3136 per cent to make an 87 per cent rise on October 2020 and take eighth place. Closely behind were Volkswagen with 2912 sales and Subaru rounding out the top 10 with 2736.

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2021 Mazda BT-50

Top 10 brands: October 2021

Top 10 brands: 2021 year to date

In charts

October 2021 - Top 10 models

October 2021 - YTD sales top 10

October 2021 - Overall segment sales

October 2021-2020 category sales

October 2021-2020 YTD category sales

2021 YTD model sales race