Browse over 9,000 car reviews

SUV record in car sales

One brand that has strong SUV sales to thank is Toyota.

New car buyers have turned to Sport Utility Vehicles in record numbers, according to the official sales figures released yesterday by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

So far this year the small SUV brigade – including such popular vehicles as the Nissan Dualis, Mitsubishi ASX, Volkswagen's Tiguan and Hyundai ix35 – has grown at an unprecedented rate of 31 per cent. Australians bought 23,845 SUVs of all types last month.

Small SUV sales have not come at the expense of the larger models - the medium, large and upper large SUVs all continue to record twenty-plus per cent growth.

SUVs have sold 177,100 units this year – or just 20,000 vehicles short of the SUV tally for 2007, which was the record year for vehicle sales. The segment is on track to top 305,000 sales.

The FCAI also says SUVs are being bought by both private and business customers. Diesel engines are the powerplant of choice.

The sales data shows a 59.9 per cent growth in private diesel SUVs and a 36.3 per cent in non-private sales.

One brand that has strong SUV sales to thank is Toyota - Australia's executive director sales and marketing Matthew Callachor said strong performances from Toyota's SUVs helped lift Toyota's sales tally by 26.2 per cent this year.

"Toyota SUVs sales rose by a massive 58 per cent July-on-July, led by Prado which more than doubled its year-ago result,'' he says.

TOP 10 BRANDS JULY 2012 & share YTD 2012 Share
Toyota

(123,815 19.5%)

17,780 20.5%
Holden

(65,119 10.3%)

8936 10.3%
Mazda

(60,084 9.5%)

7951 9.2%
Hyundai

(52,913 8.3%)

7607 8.8%
Ford

(50,333 7.9%)

6903 8.0%
Nissan

(46,034 7.3%)

6155 7.1%
Volkswagen

(30,930 4.9%)

3964 4.6%
Mitsubishi

(34,567 5.4%)

3428 4.0%
Subaru

(24,364 3.8%)

3023 3.5%
Honda

(19,022 3.0%)

2869 3.3%

 

TOP 10 MODELS JULY 2012 (2012 YTD)
Toyota HiLux 4163 23,575
Mazda3 3355 25,168
Toyota Corolla 2985 22,011
Holden Commodore 2399 18,259
Nissan Navara 2164 15,344
Hyundai i30 2045 16,045
Holden Cruze 1875 18,312
Toyota Camry 1775 12,723
Ford Ranger 1688 8716
Toyota Yaris 1518 11,354
Mazda CX-5 1483 8040
Toyota Prado 1415 10,735
Hyundai i20 1382 6861
Holden Colorado 1274 4230
Mazda2 1272 10,315
Nissan Dualis 1183 7345
Toyota Kluger 1114 7916
Ford Focus 1092 10,092
Ford Territory 1084 8779
Nissan X-Trail 1074 9377

 

MARKET SEGMENTS JULY 2012 2012 YTD (+/-)
Passenger 43,354  (-5.1%) 329,472  (1.9%)
SUV 23,845   (23%) 177,100  (31.9%)
Light Commercial 16,903  (25.6%) 110,900  (6.8%)
Heavy Commercial 2539   (3.5%) 17,023   (7.2%)
Total Market 86,641  (7%) 634,495 (9.9%)

 

PASSENGER CARS JULY 2012 2012 YTD (+/-)
Light 11,038  (3.4%) 79,589   (0.7%)
Small 17,931  (-7.5%) 143,826   (3.3%)
Medium 17,931  (-7.5%) 49,718   (17.9%)
Large 4576   (-35.3%) 35,891   (-22.5%)
Upper Large 266   (17.2%) 1319     (-28.4%)
People Movers 955   (-5.7%) 6821      (4.1%)
Sports 1916   (80.4%) 12,308       (54.1%)

 

SPORY UTILITY VEHICLES JULY 2012 2012 YTD (+/-)
SUV Small 4848  (50%) 35,794 (61.6%)
SUV Medium 8548  (20%) 62,564 (24.3%)
SUV Large 9346  (15.2%) 69,808  (27.6%)
SUV Upper Large 1103   (21.1%) 8934 (26.1%)