New car sales continued to climb, with October the highest since the Motor Industry Association started record-keeping in 1975.
Says David Crawford, MIA CEO: “Registrations of 12,023 new vehicles for the month of October is the strongest October month since the MIA started collecting records in 1975, bringing the 2014 year to date tally to 106,582 units.
“The previous strongest October was back in 1984 with 10,724 registrations. Not only are distributors of new vehicles closing in fast on the total new vehicles sales of 113,297 units for all of 2013, they are also on track to exceed the highest annual total for new registrations, which was 123,247 units in 1984”.
The total monthly new registrations of 12,023 units are up 1,327 units (12 percent) on October 2013 and were made up of 8,910 passenger vehicles and 3,113 commercial vehicles.
Year-to-date, registrations of new commercial vehicles are 5,286 units (20.7 percent) above this time in 2013 and registrations of passenger vehicles year to date are 7,166 units (10.4 percent) above this time in 2013.
Passenger vehicles registrations of 8,910 units during October, were up 948 units (11.9 percent) on October 2013. Commercial vehicle registrations of 3,113 were up 379 units (13.8 percent) on October 2013.
Toyota was the overall market leader for the month of October with 26 percent market share (3,102 units) with Ford second on 11 percent (1,358 units) and Holden third with 10 percent (1,218 units).
The Toyota Corolla was the top-selling new vehicle model in October with 1,257 new registrations, followed by the Ford Ranger with 627, the Toyota Hilux third with 514 registrations.
Toyota remains the passenger car market leader for the month of October with 27 percent share (2,395 units), with Holden second on 11 percent (966 units) and Hyundai third with eight percent (673 units). Toyota was also the commercial vehicle market leader with 23 percent share (707 units) followed by Ford at 22 percent (691 units) and Holden third at eight percent (252 units).
The Toyota Corolla was once again the top-selling passenger model with 14 percent market share (1,257 units), followed by the Toyota Yaris on five percent (438 units) and the Holden Commodore on three percent (294 units). The Toyota October results were boosted with strong rental sales made up of 936 Corolla and 311 Yaris registrations for the month.
The Ford Ranger retained its position as the monthly top-selling commercial model for October with 20 percent market share (627 units). The Toyota Hilux was the second best with 17 percent market share (514 units). This was followed by the Holden Colorado at eight percent (235 units).
Year-to-date the Ford Ranger has stretched its lead as the top-selling commercial model with 16 percent market share (5,061 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux, also with 16 percent market share (4,778 units), a lead of 283 units.
The sale of sports utility vehicles continues to be the strongest selling segment with 26 percent of all vehicles sales in October, followed by small passenger cars at 23 percent and pick-ups/chassis-cabs with 18 percent.
“Healthy economic confidence combined with competitive pricing is fuelling strong demand for new vehicles. The long run price of new vehicles in real terms continues to improve, over the last 20 years the CPI has increased by 57 percent, while the real price of vehicles has decreased by 22.5 percent, a difference of nearly 78 percent compared to 1994” says David Crawford.
