The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the peak body for the automotive industry in Australia, today released new vehicle sales figures for calendar year 2020.
A total of 916,968 vehicles were sold across the period, down 13.7% on calendar year 2019 when 1,062,867 vehicles were sold, which was not unexpected and is attributed to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the new vehicle market in Australia is now showing positive signs of growth. December recorded 95,652 sales, a 13.5% increase over the same period in December 2019. This follows a similar upturn in November, when sales of 95,205 vehicles, a 12.4% gain over November 2019, were recorded.
FCAI chief executive, Tony Weber, said signs of the recovery of the new vehicle market were welcomed by automotive brands. “COVID-19 has brought a health crisis and a corresponding economic crisis to the world during 2020. And along with the rest of Australia, automotive brands and their dealer networks have found the last twelve months an extremely challenging period,” said Weber.
“The automotive industry in Australia accounts for more than 60,000 employees, with over 4,000 dealerships across the country, and the contribution made by these businesses is critically important to the economic wellbeing of communities across Australia. It is therefore with great relief that the industry, along with the general economy, is finally noting some positive signs within the market.”
During 2020, Australia’s love of the SUV and the great Aussie ute continued, with yet another increase in share for these two popular segments. SUVs claimed 49.6% of the market, an increase from 45.5% market share, whilst Light Commercial Vehicles continued to enjoy strong popularity in 2020, claiming 22.4% market share and passenger vehicle sales resulted in a market share of 24.2%.
The highest selling brand for the year was Toyota, with a market share of 22.3%, followed by Mazda with 9.3%, Hyundai with 7.1%, Ford with 6.5% and Mitsubishi rounding our the top five with 6.4%. interestingly, of the top ten vehicles sold in 2020, seven of them were either SUVs or LCVs.