Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger top November new-car sales

MUM and dad buyers appear to be taking a back seat as the Australian car market rushes towards setting another sales record in 2016.

Unofficial VFACTS data for November, due to be released later today, show that business, rental and fleet buyers – and not private buyers – have pushed the Aussie new-car market past the one million mark despite another flat month of sales.

And it’s the worksite favourites, and not conventional passenger cars, again topping the charts. The Toyota Hilux trade ute pegged 3839 sales for the month to lead November’s sales tally, followed by its main rival, the Ford Ranger (3410).

The market’s dominant brand, Toyota, filled out third and fourth place with the Corolla hatch (3245), and the Aussie-made Toyota Camry (2957) that will end production late next year shortly before being replaced by an all-new imported model.

Rounding out the top five was Australia’s best-selling private buyer’s car, the Mazda 3 (2877 sales).

The passenger car market for private buyers has shrunk more than 11 percent so far this year, while SUV sales have grown by only 1.7 percent. In contrast, business sales of passenger cars are up almost four percent (and were up 10.2 percent in November), while SUV sales to businesses and government are up 19.2 and 12.0 percent respectively.

November’s new car sales unofficially grew only 0.3 percent, turning around October’s slight slip. Combined year-to-date new-car sales stand at 1,055,792, up 23,578 sales compared with the same time last year. With December expected to add around 100,000 units to the annual tally, the market’s momentum should be enough to push the year’s numbers up to almost 1.16 million combined sales – a record for what is considered a mature market by global carmakers.

Toyota hung on comfortably as the biggest selling brand, moving 18,162 units for the month to hold an 18.4 percent share of the market. Mazda, meanwhile, rose to second spot with 9825 sales with a 9.9 percent share as Hyundai slammed on the brakes, moving only 7991 units for an 8.1 percent market share. Its best performer, the price-driven Hyundai i30 hatchback (2541), fell to fifth spot on the sales chart.

Holden took out fourth spot (7750) as the Commodore large car attracted 2088 buyers for the month. The carmaker recently gave the Australian market an early taste of the fully imported model that will replace the locally made one from early in 2018. The Commodore’s slightly bigger sibling, the long-wheelbase Caprice, also had a good month (109) in its twilight. In fifth place was rival Ford with 6827 sales, helped by yet another strong month with Mustang (389 sales) and the run-out of its Kuga small SUV (575) as the model trades its name in for the facelifted Escape-badged version.

Mercedes-Benz (3584 sales) made it into the bottom of the top 10 as it lured buyers with its C-Class Coupe, snaring 317 sales. Most of those cars sold were AMG-badged C63 coupes; single it out, and the AMG performance sub-brand accounted for almost 20 percent of the German luxury brand’s sales for the month largely on the back of CLA45 and the newest entrant, the C45.

BMW and Audi are still tussling for second place behind Mercedes-Benz, with both brands having a decent month (2114 and 2030 sales respectively) after pushing their sales ahead of the same period last year.

Among the strong performers for November was the Skoda Superb large liftback and wagon, which added 92 sales to its tally. That’s a third of its annual sales in a single month. Volkswagen’s new Tiguan has also taken off, selling 1028 for the month alone to help push it up to the number eight spot on the brands leaderboard.

Other cars making an impact included the Audi R8 (increasing its sales for the year-to-date by a quarter by snaring 19 buyers in November), the Mazda CX-9 (921) and the Honda Civic (765) helped by the new-generation sedan.

Despite ending production in November, Ford’s Falcon sedan moved 199 units, while the ute, which ended production in July, moved another 44. Stocks of both cars are expected to run out by mid-way through next year.

The proportion of locally made cars sold in November shrunk another 14 percent as the industry prepares for a late 2017 shutdown. All up, 7486 Aussie-fettled models were sold, with Ford selling a combined 750. Holden held on to 3419 locally made sales despite Cruze production ending in late July, while the Camry’s strength gave Toyota a combined 3317.

Ferrari, meanwhile, sold 23 cars in November. The brand has linked its burgeoning sales – it has grown almost 12 percent year-to-date – to Australia’s property boom.

Top 10 best-sellng models

*Unoffical VFACTS data

Top 10 best-sellng brands

*Unoffical VFACTS data