Sales of new vehicles in Australia bounced back again in December 2020 with 95,652 units recorded, 13.5% increase over December 2019 when 84,239 were sold.
This result follows a similar upturn in November 2020, when sales of 95,205 vehicles, a 12.4% gain over November 2019, were recorded.
The Toyota Hilux remains Australia’s best-selling vehicle followed by the Ford Ranger, Toyota RAV-4, Toyota Corolla, Toyota LandCruiser, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai i30, Mitsubishi Triton, Toyota Prado and Kia Cerato.
Overall new vehicle sales dropped 13.7% to 916,968 vehicles in 2020 from 1,062,867 in calendar year 2019 which the industry attributes to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber says signs of the recovery of the new vehicle market were welcomed by automotive brands.
“Along with the rest of Australia, automotive brands and their dealer networks have found the last twelve months an extremely challenging period,” Weber says.
“It is therefore with great relief that the industry, along with the general economy, is finally noting some positive signs within the market.”
During the year, Australia’s love of the SUV and the Ute continued, with yet another increase in share for these two popular segments.
SUVs claimed 49.6% of the market during 2020, an increase from 45.5% market share in 2019. A total of 454,701 SUVs were sold during the year, down 5.9% on 2019.
Light commercial vehicles continued to enjoy strong popularity in 2020, claiming 22.4% market share. A total of 205,597 vehicles sold, down 8.9% on 2019.
Passenger vehicle numbers totalled 222,103 vehicles, for 24.2% of the market in 2020. Total Passenger vehicles sold were down 29.7% on full year 2019.
The highest selling brand for the year was Toyota, with 204,801 vehicles sold for 22.3% market share. In second place was Mazda (85,640 sales for 9.3% market share), Hyundai (64,807 sales for 7.1% market share), Ford (59,601 sales for 6.5% market share), and Mitsubishi (58,335 sales for 6.4% market share).
It’s interesting to note that out of the top ten vehicles for the year, seven of them were either SUVs or LCVs.
The top selling vehicle for the year was the Toyota Hilux with 45,176 sales, Ford Ranger with 40,973 sales, Toyota RAV4 with 38,537 sales, Toyota Corolla with 25,882 sales, Toyota Landcruiser with 25,142 sales, Mazda CX-5 with 21,979 sales, Hyundai i30 with 20,734 sales, Mitsubishi Triton with 18,136 sales, Toyota Prado with 18,034 sales and Kia Cerato with 17,559 sales.
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