SUV sales overtake passenger cars for first time ever

February 2017 will be remembered as the month when SUV sales overtook passenger cars for the first time on a monthly basis, according to the official VFACTS sales figures.

VFACTS figures show that SUVs totalled 35,497 sales during February to record a 39.9% share of total industry sales. Passenger cars totalled 34,740 for a 39% share. Light commercial vehicles (LCVs) were the third largest segment with an 18.5% share.

The February 2017 market of 89,025 new vehicle sales is a decrease of 7418 vehicle sales or -7.7% on February 2016 (96,443).

February 2017 had the one less selling day than February 2016, which resulted in a decrease of 148 vehicle sales per day.

The chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Tony Weber, described February’s results as part of the evolution that has been occurring in the national vehicle market over many years.

“The steady, demonstrable shift in consumer preference which has been occurring in the past few years has culminated in this February outcome,” Weber says.

“Of course, this one monthly outcome doesn’t signal a landslide but clearly Australian buyers are attracted by the features and capabilities of new generation SUVs, and how these types of vehicles suit their needs and lifestyles.”

Weber says that the February 2017 outcome has to be put into context, given February 2016 produced such an unusually strong outcome.

“It’s important to look at sales results in the proper context because February 2016 was an unusually strong month. It included one extra selling day and saw a lot of activity in the market. This resulted in a 6.7% surge over February 2015,” he adds.

Passenger vehicles sales were the most affected by February’s decline, down 12.2%.

Interestingly, and taking into context the fact that SUV sales overtook passenger vehicle sales, sales of SUVs fell 3.7% in February, while LCVs dropped 5.6%.

In percentage terms, Western Australia showed the most marked fall. Its market dropped by 13.7%, or 1199 vehicle sales, followed by the Northern Territory (-10.7%), South Australia (-10.6%), New South Wales (-7.4%), Victoria (-7%) and Queensland (-6.6%).

Tasmania (+1.1%) and the ACT (+0.3%) were the only two markets to show an increase.

Sales of sports cars and micro cars rose in February compared with the same month last year, but all other passenger car segments declined.

Two SUV segments rose in volume during February. These were upper large SUVs (up 19.6%) and medium-sized SUVs (+1.1%). Sales of small SUVs fell by 11% and large SUVs by 5.7%.

The nation’s top-selling vehicle in February was the Toyota Corolla, which led the market with 3392 sales. It was followed by the Toyota Hilux (3386), the Mazda3 (3143), Ford Ranger (2931), and Hyundai i30 (2003).

Toyota was the leading brand in February with a 18.3% share of the total industry, followed by Mazda (11.1%), Hyundai (7.9%), Mitsubishi (6.5%), and Holden (6.4%).