Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson and MG HS medium SUVs rocket up the sales charts as Ford and Mazda slide in June

As the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and shipping issues continue to restrict supply, the most popular carmakers in Australia are experiencing mixed fortunes.

According to June 2022 new-vehicle sales figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the ongoing supply constraints are still biting, with overall sales of 99,974 down by 9.7 per cent compared with June 2021.

The usual end of financial year sales bump didn‘t happen last month as most brands opted to forgo the mid-year promotional sales event due to a serious lack of stock.

Surprising no one, Toyota topped the charts in June with 22,251 sales, up 7.0 per cent, which was helped on by a massive month for the country’s best-selling model, the HiLux ute.

A total of 7582 examples of the HiLux found homes last month, up 40.1 per cent, while the Corolla landed in third (2605, +19.8%) and the RAV4 nabbed fifth (2586, +3.4%).

One of the biggest surprises in last month’s figures was Kia storming into second place overall with 8480 sales, representing a 7.5 per cent jump.

This result was helped along by a very strong month for its Sportage, that was up by a massive 136.8 per cent for 2044 units, ensuring the medium SUV landed in seventh place overall. It is now Kia’s top-selling model after overtaking the Cerato small car that just missed out on a top 10 place last month.

South Korean sister brand Hyundai continued its good fortune by upping sales by 12.3 per cent to 8259 units. The biggest factor in this result was the incredible tally for the Sportage’s twin under the skin, the Tucson, which hit a 2840-unit high (+89.8%) to slide into second place overall behind HiLux.

A stellar result from the Sportage helped elevate Kia to second place overall.

As CarsGuide reported in May, Hyundai had plenty of high-grade diesel Tucson stock on the ground in Australia, but there was a wait on petrol models.

Mazda’s sales decline continued last month, with the Japanese carmaker losing ground by 48.9 per cent with 6245 sales as the CX-5 slipped out of the top 10.

Mitsubishi added 3.6 per cent volume to its sales for a 5846-unit haul to land in fifth place, with the Triton ute (2014, -10.1%) taking eight spot.

Ford dropped by 41.2 per cent to record 4972 sales, thanks largely to a slower month for the Ranger (2802, -53.7%) which managed to hold on to third place in the model rankings, despite being in runout ahead of the new model arriving in showrooms this month.

The stock issues Ford has faced with European sourced models like the Puma and Escape seems to be easing up, with the latter up by 380 per cent last month.

The MG HS SUV slipped into the top 10 last month.

MG Motor continued its good form with a 2.3 per cent bump and 4403 sales for seventh place. In another unusual placing in the models list, the mid-size HS SUV (1795, +79.0%) was the 10th best-selling model in Australia last month.

Proving just how popular premium brands have become in Australia, German giant Mercedes-Benz snuck into eighth place overall, up 17.4 per cent to 3909 units.

Benz was followed by Subaru which clawed back some ground, up 18.3 per cent to 3575 units, as Isuzu rounded out the top 10 (3457, -12.8%) with the D-Max (2383, -24.8%) landing in sixth place.

Isuzu kept Volkswagen out of the top 10, which was followed by Suzuki and a growing GWM.

The Northern Territory was the only state or territory to report a positive sales result last month, up 16.3 per cent, although it’s the lowest volume of all regions.

Sales in the individual segments were all over the shop too, with small SUVs dropping by 21.4 per cent as medium SUVs grew by 16 per cent and upper large SUVs increasing by 34.0 per cent.

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the issues impacting car companies all over the world are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

“Globally, car makers are continuing to suffer from plant shutdowns. In Europe we have component supply heavily impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. Microprocessors continue to be in short supply and global shipping remains unpredictable.

“While demand for new cars remains strong in Australia, it is unlikely we will see supply chain issues resolve in the near future,” he said.

Most popular brands of June 2022

Most popular models of June 2022