In our first piece covering July’s new car sales, we looked into overall sales across the industry as well as a breakdown by vehicle segment. This time around we’ll focus on how different makes and models fared last month.
New car sales by brand
Despite a 13.2% decrease in sales last month, Toyota holds a commanding share of the Australian new car market. Sales of the Japanese brand outnumber the collective total of the second and third best-selling brands, Mazda and Mitsubishi. These two brands fared slightly better in terms of relative performance, however, still posted negative year-on-year growth. The worst result of the month, however, was reserved for Hyundai, with sales slumping 33.6% for the brand.
At the other end of the scale, two brands did eke out positive sales growth for the month. Kia and Volkswagen managed to buck the trend, and while both still experiencing a downbeat 2020, the duo have generally outperformed the broader market year-to-date.
Mercedes-Benz continues to hold a position in the top ten brands thanks to some resilience in its sales this year, while fellow up-market peers such as Volvo, Audi and Alfa Romeo managed to actually increase their sales compared with the prior corresponding period.
New car sales by model
The Toyota HiLux has finally been dethroned from the top of the bestsellers list, with Toyota’s highly popular RAV4 leapfrogging it into first place. This marks the first time in the model’s history it has been crowned the bestselling car in the Australian market. The move was driven by a backlog of orders for the SUV that were finally fulfilled after new stock arrived down under. As a result, sales of the RAV4 leapt 78.1% from last year to reach 4,309 units.
In addition, there was also a shortage of HiLux and Ford Ranger vehicles, prompting some motorists to opt for the RAV4 instead. Those factors led to a shuffle where the Ranger eased into second position on account of a smaller contraction than its direct rival.
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