2017 half-year review – the underperformers

The first six months of 2017 are in the rear-view mirror, and the numbers show that though the market overall is shaping up for a bumper year, not everyone is winning in the new-car sales race.

Here are the segments, models and marques that haven’t fared so well thus far.

Almost everything that isn’t an SUV or a ute

The public’s desire to trade their ordinary hatch and sedan for the ruggedness and go-anywhere promise of an SUV or high-riding ute isn’t slowing down, and it’s causing issues for the cars traditionally thought of as mainstream choices. Light-car sales are over 6500 units down compared to 2016, medium-car sales have dipped by nearly 2000 units and almost 4000 fewer large cars have been sold year-to-date.

Even the small-car segment, which is still the most popular vehicle category in Australia, fell by 4442 cars relative to last year’s stats. There were individual models that gained ground, such as the Toyota Camry, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes A-Class, Kia Cerato and Subaru Impreza, but they were outliers.

Small SUVs

Even though the SUV segment as a whole continues to grow its market share, it’s not all sunshine and green grass in SUV land. It appears that demand for small SUVs is cooling, despite a recent explosion in the variety of product available for buyers to choose from.

In the first half of 2016, the small-SUV segment was responsible for 58,345 new-car sales across both mainstream and luxury marques, while segment sales so far this year total 55,432 units. That’s a surprise given the introduction of the bold Toyota C-HR, Suzuki Ignis and Audi Q2 in early 2017, but those arrivals are balanced out by the departure of the Tiguan (which moves up a size category) and the Jeep Patriot/Compass twins (whose replacement has yet to arrive).

But besides those movements, it appears the buying public’s enthusiasm for compact SUVs and crossovers is on the wane. Even the segment-leading Mazda CX-3 dropped volume, as did the Honda HR-V, Holden Trax, Subaru XV (though that model was in run-out for much of this year), BMW X1, Audi Q3 and Mercedes-Benz GLA.

Sports cars, except for the Mustang, Veloster and C-Class Coupe

The days of Toyota’s 86 dominating the sports car sales charts is over – the new king of the fast-car segment is undoubtedly the Mustang with 5048 sales, with plenty of daylight between it and the second place-getter, the box-fresh Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe.

There were a few other sporty offerings that gained decent ground relative to their 2016 performance – among them the Hyundai Veloster (which sits in third place behind the C-Class Coupe), Subaru BRZ and Audi A5 – but broadly speaking most cars in the sports category experienced fewer sales.

Even the fan-favourite Mazda MX-5 is starting to see its sales taper off, while the 2 Series Coupe/Convertible, Audi TT and the Porsche Boxster/Cayman also suffered slightly as well. Is nobody interested in quick fun anymore?

Toyota C-HR

With eye-catching design, CX-3 beating space, appealing value-for-money and decent dynamics, you’d expect the Toyota C-HR would have been kicking major goals since its local launch in February. However, to date, Toyota Australia has only moved 2215 cars while Mazda has sold over 9000 CX-3s.

Why? Simply put, supply is tight. The total Australian allocation for 2017 is a mere 6000 cars, not enough for it to equal the performance of segment leaders – not even close. That situation may change in 2018, so while it looks like Toyota’s newest SUV is an underperformer right now, next year will likely see the edgy crossover hit its stride.

BMW

After a reasonably strong showing around this time in 2016, the Bavarian automaker has gone back to 2015 levels of sales during the first half of this year - a year-to-date reduction of 18.5 percent.

However, BMW Australia isn’t too concerned by the dip, with a spokesperson saying it’s not necessarily indicative of a longer-lasting trend and is largely a result of the company’s product renewal cycle.

With the next 18 months set to see significant model updates as well as several all-new products entering BMW showrooms – with the all-new X3 mid-size SUV to be one of the most crucial - the company expects 2018 performance to be significantly stronger.

The X3 won’t be doing all of the heavy lifting either: expect strong showroom performance from the X2 compact and the supersized X7. Until the new breed of mainstay SUVs arrive, though, the Bavarian brand is hurting.

Jeep

Jeep’s fortunes dwindled in the first half, with Grand Cherokee sales slipping by nearly 25 percent over the past six months relative to 2016 figures. As Jeep’s core model – and the only one to have sold in four-digit numbers so far this year – that’s bad news. Right now, it’s a middle-of-the-pack contender in the large SUV market.

The mid-size Cherokee, Jeep’s second most popular model, is also suffering. Jeep sold over 4000 in the first half of 2015, but that fell to a sub-1k figure in 2016 and so far this year only 718 Cherokees have rolled out of Jeep dealerships.

Overall, only 4565 Jeeps have been sold so far in 2017 – 2459 cars fewer than it moved in 2016, and well down on the 14,453 cars it sold in the first half of 2015. Compared to the first six months of 2016, Jeep’s sales performance so far this year shows a whopping 35 percent reduction in volume.

Jeep’s position is also compounded by the absence of a small SUV offering from its showrooms. The Patriot and Compass twins departed this year and an all-new replacement has yet to take their place. Naturally, as an off-roader specialist Jeep doesn’t have a passenger car range to lean on either – nor does it have a workhorse-grade ute to capitalise on demand in that segment.

However, the company is optimistic that it’s on the cusp of bouncing back. Rather than focusing on the half-year stats, a Jeep spokesperson instead highlighted that strong June figures were evidence that a turnaround was on the horizon:

“Australia’s Jeep results in June proved to be solid with sales up 5% year on year,” said Fiat-Chrysler Australia’s head of PR Lucy McLellan.

“Impressively, the Grand Cherokee was up 21 percent year-on-year.

“Overall, given we’re without our C-SUV – the all new Jeep Compass – until the end of the year, the performance was pleasing.”

Holden

While rival Ford has slightly improved its position relative to its 2016 performance, Holden has slid backwards. With 42,113 sales year-to-date it’s nearly 6000 sales behind where it was this time last year – and if trends continue, Ford could overtake its long-time nemesis by year’s end.

In fact, Holden has suffered the biggest reduction in sales volume of any brand so far this year, though its 12.3 percent drop is far from the largest if we’re talking percentages. Nevertheless, the company admits 2017 was bound to be a challenging year as it makes the transition from manufacturer to a full-volume importer.

“Are we facing some challenges? Absolutely,” said Holden PR head Sean Poppitt.

“Do we need to improve our market performance? Absolutely. But it’s hardly a surprise to anyone that during the most fundamental period of change our company has ever seen we’ve got a few speed humps to get over.”

And instrumental to Holden’s recovery plan is its promise to launch 24 new models by 2020, among them the Europe-sourced NG Commodore and the Captiva-replacing Acadia and Equinox SUVs.

“Our traditional strength has been in large passenger cars and the market has seen a seismic shift to SUVs, which is exactly why we’ll have two brand-new, world-class SUVs launching over the next 12 months or so,” he said.

“We need to fish where the fish are.”

The Astra range has also been fleshed out thanks to the recent arrival of a sedan bodystyle to complement the hatch that launched late last year, and will be bolstered even further by the addition of a wagon later this year. So far, Astra is doing a reasonably good job of taking over from the Cruze as a core model for the brand.

“It’s really important to note that June was the highest-selling Colorado month we’ve ever had and was the best month we’ve had with Astra since launch last year,” Poppitt continued.

“We’re tracking towards 90,000 total sales this year, which will mean almost 1 in 10 new cars sold this year will wear a Holden badge.”

If Holden achieves that target, Ford may have to wait a little longer before it can one-up its rival.

Hyundai

After achieving an all-time half-year sales record last June with a 54,350-strong tally, Hyundai has failed to build on that number this year. For the first six months of 2017, the Korean auto giant moved 49,819 cars - 4531 fewer than it did this time last year and 280 behind what it achieved in the first half of 2015. An 8.3 percent drop, in year-to-date terms.

And that’s despite stronger performance from its SUV range, right now comprised of the Tucson and Santa Fe. No, the big reason behind Hyundai’s backwards movement is the absence of ultra-keen driveaway deals on the volume-selling i30. The new-gen i30 is selling in healthy numbers right now (third in its segment, in fact), but last year it was moving in massive volume thanks to heavy discounting that saw entry models priced below $20k drive away.

Ergo, that one nameplate – which generates the lion’s share of Hyundai sales – has generated “only” 14,537 sales so far this year compared to 22,857 in the first six months of 2016.

So does Hyundai have a problem? Hardly, if you look at its across-the-board sales growth. Indeed, even though fewer i30s are being sold right now, the profit margins on each car are doubtlessly greater than they were this time last year. Plus, with the Kona compact SUV just around the corner, Hyundai would seem set to head towards December with the wind in its sail.