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By
EWAN KENNEDY
9 July 2007
For the first time in history more than a million motor
vehicles have been sold in Australia in a single year.
Figures just released by the automotive industry statistician,
VFACTS, to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI),
show that we just squeaked over the million number to buy a total
of 1,004,097 passenger cars, SUVs and trucks during the 2006-2007
financial year.
The numbers were tipped onto the right side of the million by a
huge final month of the year. June 2007 was quite simply the
biggest single month ever for vehicle sales in Australia. A total
of 105,097 vehicles were sold, a staggering 9.0 per cent increase
on the same month in 2006.
Which is good news for all, because today’s new cars are so
much cleaner and safer than older ones that they should all be
encouraged onto our roads.
Toyota continues to be the number one marque in Australia by a
big margin, with 22.2 per cent of all sales year-to-date in 2007.
Holden sits in a distant second spot at 14.5 per cent and Ford is
significantly further back with 10.4 per cent. Mazda (7.5%)
continues to be the number one importer as well as sitting in
fourth position overall. Mitsubishi Australia seems to be clawing
its way back up the charts from its low points of the last few
years, retaining fifth spot but with 6.4% of the market compared
with 5.8% at the same time in 2006. Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Subaru
and Volkswagen fill out the top 10.
Toyota grabbed the coveted number one spot in individual
vehicles in June 2007, its all-new Corolla models finding 5890
homes. Holden Commodore wasn’t a long way back, with 5588 sales,
Falcon fought its way back up to third position, but is a long way
behind at 3206. The Ford Australia guys must really be sweating on
the launch of their new Falcon in 2008.
A total of 5271 Toyota Camry four- and six-cylinder cars were
sold in June 2007, but the decision to call the six-cylinder model
Aurion instead of Camry tells against it when it comes to bragging
rights. The actual numbers are very close: 2645/2626, Camry/Aurion.
Then again, Toyota would probably argue that it has increased
sales of its six-cylinder model by giving it a new name.
Commodore still has the biggest overall sales for the first six
months of 2007, with 30,083; followed by Corolla (22,755), Mazda3
(17,776) and Falcon (16,571).
Though there has been considerable excitement about the
million-plus sales in the financial year, traditionally we talk of
calendar-year figures rather than financial-year ones. Can
Australia manage its first ever million sales year in 2007?
That’s still hard to predict with certainty. While there's a
great deal of confidence out there, and 524,376 vehicles have been
sold in the first six months of the year, it will only take a
relatively minor hiccup in the economy and/or consumer confidence
to bring the number marginally below the magic million. We await
the final 2007 numbers with a great deal of anticipation.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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