April vehicle sales

[BroadyFord]

Australian new-car sales take a hit in April

http://www.carpoint.com.au/news/2011...in-april-24684

The aftershocks of the Japanese earthquakes can now be felt in Australia -- not because new-vehicle stock is low but because dealers are not discounting as heavily.

That's the analysis of a well-placed insider after preliminary figures for April showed car sales dropped by about 10 per cent last month despite strong consumer confidence.

April is always the toughest month on the car sales calendar -- it has the fewest selling days because of Easter and Anzac long weekends -- but some brands did it tougher than others in 2011.

April figures are expected to show that Toyota -- market leader for the past eight years in a row and 14 of the past 20 years -- was down 17 per cent compared with the same month the previous year, posting a little over 14,000 sales.

All Toyota factories around the world have cut production by at least half -- and the Thailand factory that makes Hilux utes has been slowed to just 30 per cent of its capacity.

But most dealers for most brands in Australia still had sufficient stock of most cars in April.

"It wasn't so much vehicle supply that was the problem, because there was plenty of stock on the ground, but dealers were not discounting as aggressively because they know supply will be tight in the months ahead," said the well-placed industry insider. "They're rationing what stock they have."

Toyota still holds a commanding lead in the overall sales race -- it is at least 20,000 sales clear of Holden and has sold more than twice as many cars as Ford so far this year.

Holden held up slightly stronger than the overall market, down eight per cent having posted more than 9000 sales.

But Ford had a particularly difficult month. After tracking well in the first three months of the year -- up by 3.4 per cent -- sales dropped by 20 per cent compared with the same month the previous year.

Falcon sales were down by 50 per cent in April -- with fewer than 1500 recorded.

Ford's tough run allowed Korean car maker Hyundai to make it into the top three for only the second time on record -- and almost saw it overtaken by Mazda (as it was in January).

With 6800 sales, an increase of two per cent, Hyundai was the third best selling brand in April -- ahead of Ford (6400) and Mazda (6300).

It was only the second time Hyundai had overtaken Ford and claimed a top-three position: the first time was in February 2010 when Hyundai posted 7208 sales compared to Ford's 7148 and Mazda's 7003.

Hyundai also came within three sales of defeating Ford in January 2011 -- Ford's tally was 6413 and Hyundai's was 6410.

The Mazda3 (pictured) is still Australia's best selling car so far this year but the Holden Commodore claimed top spot for the second month in a row.

The Commodore's April tally of 3090 sales was just 40 more than the Mazda3, according to preliminary figures, but the Mazda3 still leads year-to-date by about 450 sales.

The Toyota Hilux is believed to have been the third best selling vehicle in April, posting just shy of 3000 sales, but is expected to be hit by supply restrictions in the coming months.