VFACTS January 2013

[jpd80]

Mazda3 starts year leading in Australian new car sales.

LINK
Australian new-car buyers have kept their foot on the accelerator and the industry is set for another
record year – despite the federal election – with provisional figures showing a sales surge in January
after last year’s all-time high.

Some pundits believed the push to 1.1 million sales last year might have led to a drop in sales in January
as sharp discounting pulled some orders forward. But provisional data shows the market is up by about
10 per cent compared with the same month last year, pushing past 84,000 deliveries for the first time.

The previous January record was 82,270 set in 2008.Mazda has claimed top-selling-car status for the
second January in a row as the Mazda3 (3345 sales) led the Toyota Corolla (2960) and Toyota HiLux (2750).

The boss of Mazda Doug Dickson told News Limited earlier: “I think this year is going to be another record.
From our understanding, personal savings are at all time highs and private buyers will remain strong.
“And even if resources [sectors] come off a little, they’re not going to go away. They’re still a very big
industry and they need new cars. I don’t think we’re going to get the massive increases we got in some
of the segments but we’re still forecasting a 3 per cent rise.”Market leader Toyota – which held a record
103,000 sales lead over its nearest rival in 2012 and has been the top selling brand for the past 10 years
– also predicts sales will eclipse 1.1 million in 2013.

But the peak body, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, believes sales will fall to 1,075,000.
“During this election year, and with production now having caught up with back orders, FCAI forecasts
a national automotive market of 1,075,000 for 2013,” said the chief executive of the FCAI, Tony Weber.

But federal elections have not hurt sales before. In 2007 new-car sales eclipsed 1 million for the first time,
and it was the best year on record until 2012. The year 2010 was the second-best on record at the time.
The official sales data will be released next week but provisional figures shared by the industry showed
the Nissan Navara came within striking distance of its ute rival, the Toyota HiLux, to rank fourth (2475 sales).

The Ford Focus small car had a record January result (2365 sales) and sold at almost quadruple the
rate of the Falcon (780 sales), which posted one of its lowest results on record. Ford announced in
2007 it was going to build the Focus in Australia but it reversed the decision in 2009 and that model now
comes from Thailand.

Holden’s Commodore (1650 sales) was outsold by the Captiva SUV (2155 sales) and only narrowly
ahead of the Cruze sedan and hatch (1630). The Mazda CX5 (1625 sales) and Ford Ranger ute (1450)
rounded out the top 10; Holden’s Colorado ute finished just outside the cut-off (1420 sales).


1. Mazda 3 - 3345
2.Corolla - 2960
3. Hilux - 2470
4. Navara - 2470
5. Focus - 2365
6. Captiva - 2155
7.Commodore - 1659
8.Cruze - 1630
9. Mazda CX5 - 1625
10. Ranger - 1450

[Windsor220]

Captiva done well.

[ShootsWithFilm]

Wow - find that really interesting. Goes to show:

1. Holden can still get away with putting a badge on a **** and it will sell well (craptiva)
2. People still haven't got the message that the Ranger is better then the Hilux!

[jpd80]

Did anyone notice that Focus was a mere 120 sales behind third place

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Did anyone notice that Focus was a mere 120 sales behind third place

It would have made it if it wasn't for supply... Best small car on the market, let down by poor brand image. It will change one day.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

It would have made it if it wasn't for supply... Best small car on the market, let down by poor brand image. It will change one day.

On the up side,
Supply is getting better, 1920 in December, over 2300 in January and
it shows what happens with good advertising and attractive finance.

Brand image might not be as bad as you think, give buyers good product
and actually advertise it properly and look what happens, I bet dealers
were screaming for more stock..

[ryeman]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

It would have made it if it wasn't for supply... Best small car on the market, let down by poor brand image. It will change one day.

I guess Ford A don't want the situation of too much stock which ends up with disastrous discounting.
Better to do what VW have done with a premium small car, ie tease the public with its desirability and dealers being able to say there are more orders than we can supply, it's that popular. My local dealer doesn't put a Falcon on the showroom floor, preferring to display Ranger, Focus and Fiesta.
If he had more space probably Mondeo as well!

If you want to allay fears of Falcon disappearing, you don't simply say nothing cos that will cause the public to assume its true and cause problems in trying to keep the production line going to supply a model not selling.

No advertising, no statements, declining sales.
If that's a 'strategy' .....beats me!

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by ryeman

I guess Ford A don't want the situation of too much stock which ends up with disastrous discounting.
Better to do what VW have done with a premium small car, ie tease the public with its desirability and dealers being able to say there are more orders than we can supply, it's that popular. My local dealer doesn't put a Falcon on the showroom floor, preferring to display Ranger, Focus and Fiesta.
If he had more space probably Mondeo as well!

If you want to allay fears of Falcon disappearing, you don't simply say nothing cos that will cause the public to assume its true and cause problems in trying to keep the production line going to supply a model not selling.


No advertising, no statements, declining sales.
If that's a 'strategy' .....beats me!

Around 75% of Falcon (and Commodore) sales used to be to fleets, the bulk of those sales are gone, not coming back.

Regardless of any advertising resources used to push Falcon, the roles that large cars used to play have been replaced by
different vehicles better suited to buyer needs , people are now more focused on price, fuel economy and space utilisation.
Varying degrees of those traits can be found in other sizes of car and SUV/crossovers - why would people want large sedans.

There's still a place in the market for large car like Falcon/Commodore but they will never dominate like they once did.

[stev3n]

Originally Posted by ShootsWithFilm

Wow - find that really interesting. Goes to show:

1. Holden can still get away with putting a badge on a **** and it will sell well (craptiva)
2. People still haven't got the message that the Ranger is better then the Hilux!

I agree with first point. But I believe your hilux will have much better resale than ranger. Hey I love fords but I think ranger will always have the reputation of being a re-badged mazda ute. You know the old mazda utes that have a question mark over their diesel's reliability, and seem to lunch their gearboxes with little miles on the clock. I know that it is an all new vehicle, but some cars have a stigma attached, look at the damage AU did to Ford. The ranger tag should have been changed when the new model arrived

[Smoke Pursuit]

Rangers problem is supply. Well done to Mazda!!! Their customer service is amazing, it's no wonder they are doing so well.

[Wretched]

Awesome result for Focus. Much deserved.
Good job also to sister car the Mazda 3.
Brilliant platform

[Rico 110s]

Commodores numbers show that it was a bad month for anything made in Australia, it also points out how much is still made over the break to fill the gap that Aussie made product can't fill, so I do not blame the Falcon/Territory for their worst month.

How ever a little face-work on the Falcon could not hurt this year, maybe restructure pricing around the car could help.

Funny how the Camry has disappeared from the "Top Ten scene, I suppose the 0 percent interest deal on every Camry must have ended now.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Rico 110s

Funny how the Camry has disappeared from the "Top Ten scene, I suppose the 0 percent interest deal on every Camry must have ended now.

This is what happens when you use discounts and incentives to pump the sales,
there's a huge pull forward of next month's sales, when incentives stop, so too do sales.

[bmorris]

Originally Posted by jpd80

This is what happens when you use discounts and incentives to pump the sales,
there's a huge pull forward of next month's sales, when incentives stop, so too do sales.

Yes this is what happens you create a false economy. Looks good while the money is flowing, turn off the incentives and then so the sales stop.

[stevz]

Originally Posted by jpd80

This is what happens when you use discounts and incentives to pump the sales,
there's a huge pull forward of next month's sales, when incentives stop, so too do sales.

You could say exactly the same for the Focus. Its sales have only risen since the introduction of the 2.9% finance offer.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by stevz

You could say exactly the same for the Focus. Its sales have only risen since the introduction of the 2.9% finance offer.

Od course there are parallels but unlike Camry the Focus has always suffered because of
lack of advertising and decent supply from Europe, so in order for this to be successful,
Ford must not stop the 2.9% financing until sales and awareness have been built up.
This I believe is critical to raising both the perception of Focus in the market, they have to keep going..

[BP'93]

Eeek!!! Commodore sales are bad but it's expected as January is always a tough month for aussie made cars. With VF's reveal on February 10th, Holden will have a very tough time convincing the public and buyers to buy the existing VE Commodore range, good luck!

[1TUFFUTE]

holden looking more and more transparent...not too mention screwed

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

holden looking more and more transparent...not too mention screwed

Really? GMH have Captiva, Cruze and the commy in the top 10..we have two fully imported cars....

In saying that the Focus result is great, whats going on with the Tez?

I think a factor in Holdens smaller car sales is also price. People Id dare say want a tez but its simply more expensive and at the end of the day if you are just ferrying around the kids do you need a Tez?

Just like people are scaling down from the Falcon/Commy.

Also family budgets are pretty tight at the moment IMO...every little bit of saving counts.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by Polyal

Really? GMH have Captiva, Cruze and the commy in the top 10..we have two fully imported cars....

In saying that the Focus result is great, whats going on with the Tez?

I think a factor in Holdens smaller car sales is also price. People Id dare say want a tez but its simply more expensive and at the end of the day if you are just ferrying around the kids do you need a Tez?

Just like people are scaling down from the Falcon/Commy.

Also family budgets are pretty tight at the moment IMO...every little bit of saving counts.

yes but the numbers are falling fast...and we all know ford tends to keep there prices higher ...or at least the high end of their class. And do you remember how many cruzes holden said they wanted to be selling...its a hell of a lot more then what there selling now....and that's including the flop that was and is the hatchback version.
I think people are slowly realizing that holden really does sell the worst cars in there classes. There is only so far blind loyalty gets you....and that's half a generation and a bit of word of mouth I for one am amazed anyone buys the crap they sell in such an overcrowded market here in aus.

But in saying that...you don't have to be that far behind these days to be outclassed. The colorados and cruzes and so on, are good cars...its just the competition like RANGERS G6s and FOCUSES are just so much better...world class. Its just they build great cars these days so expectations are high.
Holden fans get SHAFTED

[ivorya]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

holden looking more and more transparent...not too mention screwed

Unfortunately, for how screwed they are, They still have the finances to be major sponsers for NRL and AFL........... Probably at the expense of Workers.

[xm289]

I tried to buy a territory in january but every ford dealer was trying to sell 2012 plated cars at rrp and not giving good trade ins.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by xm289

I tried to buy a territory in january but every ford dealer was trying to sell 2012 plated cars at rrp and not giving good trade ins.

Try Bryan Byrt in QLD... They have all their prices listed on their website...

Big discounts on Titaniums.

[Resurrection]

780? So EcoBoost and EcoLPi are not the saviours they were expected to be.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

780? So EcoBoost and EcoLPi are not the saviours they were expected to be.

They are not building enough of either to sell them.

If you want an Ecoboost G6 or G6E its a 8 week wait.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

They are not building enough of either to sell them.

If you want an Ecoboost G6 or G6E its a 8 week wait.

8 weeks is better than the months of waiting for a new Ranger.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

8 weeks is better than the months of waiting for a new Ranger.

Not when you can go down to Toyota and get a Camry today....

They need to build more Ecoboost... Its just ******** that they will not build stock for the floor, i had a friend wanting a G6E Ecoboost a few months ago and there was like 2 of them in QLD....

If you don't have the stock on the shelf people will not buy, especially in a market as competitive as the large sedans.

[barra240t]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

Not when you can go down to Toyota and get a Camry today....

They need to build more Ecoboost... Its just ******** that they will not build stock for the floor, i had a friend wanting a G6E Ecoboost a few months ago and there was like 2 of them in QLD....

If you don't have the stock on the shelf people will not buy, especially in a market as competitive as the large sedans.

Do you really think dealers want to order XT's and G6/E for retail stock? As I've said all along let us order ecoboost in XR and you will start to see more around.

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

They are not building enough of either to sell them.

If you want an Ecoboost G6 or G6E its a 8 week wait.

Where does this info come from?? Looking on carsales they seem to be over stocked in ecoboost

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Where does this info come from?? Looking on carsales they seem to be over stocked in ecoboost

Over stocked??

Nearly all Ecoboost cars on carsales are demos with at least 3000 kms.

Carsales is a bad example.

Theres 34 new Ecoboost Falcons in Queensland on carsales... 25 of which are XT's that private buyers will not buy.

Leaves 3 G6E and 6 G6 across how many dealers? Atleast 10 major ones.