Cost of living pressures may well be hitting the new car market as sales drop from last year with the steepest drops occurring in the private sector.
Despite hitting more than a million vehicles so far in 2024, FCAI figures for October are 7.9 per cent down on the same month last year and following slower months has the year’s to date sales up on 2023 by 1.9 per cent.
FCAI chief Tony Weber described the result as solid.
“However, we remain concerned about the continuing performance of the private buyers’ segment which was down 14.2 per cent this month following a reduction of 17.2 per cent in September,” Weber says “This does indicate that economic pressures are a concern for families across the country.”
Familiar leaders
Toyota’s RAV 4 hybrid remained on top reflecting the boom in hybrid vehicles which have so far jumped 83 per cent compared to 2023.
Plug-in hybrids have also grown off a low base with 17,953 sold so far in 2024, more than doubling since last year.
But straight EV sales were down with only a total of 66,000 sold so far in 2024, eight per cent down on last year’s boom. Petrol vehicles also continued to decline and have dropped ten per cent overall in 2024.
New power and shapes
Weber says the battery electric vehicle share of new sales has remained subdued despite an increasing number of new brands entering the market and substantial tax benefits available to some purchasers through the FBT concession.
“Many of these new EV sales are in the highly competitive medium passenger segment which already records almost fifty per cent of sales being electric but the segment accounting for just over four per cent of total sales.
“Conversely, we are now witnessing the introduction of new plug-in hybrid models in the SUV and Light Commercial segments which have previously been dominated by petrol and diesel models. This is significant given the overwhelming popularity of SUVs and Light Commercial vehicles in Australia.
Australia recorded 98,375 new vehicle sales in October 2024 , the second-best October result on record and brings the year-to-date sales total to 1,025,621.
Toyota was the market leader with sales of 18,471 in October, followed by Ford (8,581), Mazda (7,656), Hyundai (7,086) and Kia (6,602).
The Toyota RAV4 was Australia’s top selling vehicle with sales of 4,841 followed by Ford Ranger (4,757), Toyota HiLux (4,523), Ford Everest (2,668) and Isuzu Ute D-Max (2,295).