Cost of living pressures are hitting the new vehicle market with further contraction of sales while new EVs have halved from the same time last year.
The FCAI monthly figures show overall new vehicle sales dropped 11.6 per cent in November compared to 2023 with EVs dropping 54 per cent for the month and almost 13 per cent for the year to date.
It means EVs are unlikely to hit the milestone number of 100,000 new vehicles in 2024.
By contrast hybrid market share continues to grow with another monthly boost of 47 per cent, reaching sales of 158,000 in 2024 while plug-in hybrids have doubled in a year to 28,000.
New petrol vehicles have also dropped 11 per cent compared to 2023 highlighting the trends that will shape the future car parc.
The FCAI figures do not include sales of Tesla and Polestar.
Tightening market
FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber says while the year to date had been strong the later half reflected the financial squeeze on private buyers.
“The first half of 2024 recorded market growth of 8.7 per cent compared with 2023. Since July, we have seen the market decline by 8.2 per cent compared with 2023,” Weber says.
“The Private buyer segment continues to struggle with a decline of 16.6 per cent on November 2023. This follows falls of 14.2 per cent in October, 17.2 per cent in September and 15.9 per cent in August. This is a disturbing trend which illustrates how cost of living pressures are impacting households.”
He says November recorded another disappointing result for the sale of electric vehicles while Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid accounted for 16.9 per cent of November sales compared with 9.9 per cent last year.
Global trends
“The Australian experience with EVs is similar to many major markets overseas such as Europe, New Zealand and the USA,” Weber says. Car makers are responding to regulatory settings that mandate an increase in the number of zero-emission vehicles by introducing new products. However, consumers remain cautious about making the shift to pure EVs and instead are purchasing hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
“The industry will continue its part by introducing an increasing range of more affordable, low emission vehicles while working alongside governments to address challenges such as recharging infrastructure which is critical to building consumer confidence for the transition to low emission vehicles,” Weber says.
Market leaders
Toyota was the market leader with sales of 20,562 during November, followed by Ford (8,720), Mazda (7,588), Kia (6,410) and Mitsubishi (6,205). The Toyota RAV4 was Australia’s top-selling vehicle with sales of 5,526 followed by Ford Ranger (4,981), Toyota Prado (3,590), Toyota HiLux (3,572) and the MG ZS (2,794).