February 2018 VFACTS: Honda booms as Holden slumps

[naddis01]

https://www.motoring.com.au/february...slumps-111392/

February VFACTS: Honda booms as Holden slumps
March 02, 2018

Big growth for Australian new-vehicle market last month, but Holden stumbled as a full-line importer

Holden was the biggest loser but Honda was an even bigger winner when it came to new-vehicle registrations among the mainstream brands last month.

According to unofficial sales figures obtained by motoring.com.au ahead of official VFACTS data to be released by the FCAI on Monday, the overall market boomed by more than eight per cent in February.

Once again the biggest growth was in small and medium SUV as well as 4×4 pick-up, but this time also light and small cars. In contrast, mid-size, large, upper large and sports cars continued their decline in popularity.

Of the top 10 mainstream brands every one of them sold more vehicles last month than in February 2017 except Mazda (down just 0.1 per cent) and Holden, which slumped by more than 18 per cent month on month.

In its fourth month as a full-line importer following the closure of its factory last October, the once-dominant Australian car-maker sold less than 4700 vehicles last month, placing it eighth overall and giving it a market share of five per cent.

In the same month it launched its first imported Commodore and with stocks of the homegrown model – as well as the Cruze and Malibu – all but depleted, the biggest losers were Caprice (94%), Ute (down 73%) and Commodore — down 53 per cent to less than 750 old and new Commodores.

But also suffering serious sales drops were Holden’s Trax (down 42%), Colorado 4×4 (18%), Trailblazer (11.5%) and Captiva (down 40% to 840), which has been replaced by the Equinox, which found about 360 buyers in its second month on sale.

The only Holden models to lift their sales in February were the Spark (up 115), Barina (up 35%) and Astra – up more than 150 per cent with more than 1000 sold, making it Holden’s top-seller in February followed by Colorado and Captiva.

Meantime, Honda surged by almost 55 per cent on the back of strong sales of its volume-selling Civic (1400 – up 70%), CR-V (1375 – up 149%), HR-V (1050 – up 8.0%) and Jazz (840 – up 48%).

Mitsubishi had the second biggest volume growth of the mainstream brands at more than 24 per cent, thanks to 1630-plus Triton 4×4 sales (up 6.5%), 1620-plus Outlander sales (up 103%), 940 Lancer sales (up 137%) and almost 650 sales of its new Eclipse Cross.

The next biggest mover was Hyundai (up more than 14 per cent due to Accent and i30 sales upticks), but Toyota continued to lead the pack with a 12 per cent monthly sales increase.

Behind it in terms of February growth was Kia (up 11.7%), Nissan (10%), Ford (6.9%), Subaru (4%) and Volkswagen (1.2%).

Top 10 brands in February by sales:
Toyota — 18,280
Mazda — 9910
Hyundai — 8000
Mitsubishi — 7160
Ford — 6060
Honda — 4940
Nissan — 4860
Holden — 4690
Volkswagen — 4670
Kia — 4660

[DFB FGXR6]

Holden's numbers look pretty ordinary but I get the feeling that it may take a few more months before we get a true reading on how they fare after closing the local factory.

750 Commodores sounds about where they will be sitting at from now on. I know its still early days for the Equinox but the blanket TV advertising doesn't seem to be yielding much of a result. This would be worry for them considering that it is one of the hottest segments of the market.

[CyberWasp]

How many of the Commodores where dealer demo's?

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

How many of the Commodores where dealer demo's?

And press demo's?

[burnz]

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

How many of the Commodores where dealer demo's?

how many were they VFII my17 ??

[kevino]

I think Holden had too much of a time gap between making the last VF in October and the first ZB,s arriving in late February. they probably ran out of VF,s before ZB arrived for sale.
They certainly left a gap for Kia Singer but that doesn't seem to be selling in big numbers, maybe supply issues.

[Brazen]

As good as the new Commodore may be, my god it has one of the most boring colour palettes ever. Definately now a German car.

[jpd80]

what's going on with Mazda's 9910 sales?


Commodore buyers are like blokes around the barbie, if the meat looks strange, they won't eat it.

[GCRXR6]

Originally Posted by jpd80

what's going on with Mazda's 9910 sales?


Commodore buyers are like blokes around the barbie, if the meat looks strange, they won't eat it.

..... Sharp as....eating razorblades for breaky?

[uniacidz]

Dismal story

Go Toyota. Wow those figures.
Not one mention to them in that article

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by GCRXR6

..... Sharp as....eating razorblades for breaky?

Just general feedback from my locals, the car could be great but they won't touch it.
It's tragic to see a competitor fall so far, I really feel for the Holden buyers.

[XRtowcar]

Holden are not far from dropping out of top ten brands.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Brazen

As good as the new Commodore may be, my god it has one of the most boring colour palettes ever. Definately now a German car.

Very depressing would be how I describe the colour palette. Wheels magazine mentioned that there is a much broader exterior colour range and interior colour schemes for the European market and yet Australia gets dungeon all black for the interior and the usual several shades of grey/black/silver/white for the exterior.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by kevino

I think Holden had too much of a time gap between making the last VF in October and the first ZB,s arriving in late February. they probably ran out of VF,s before ZB arrived for sale.
They certainly left a gap for Kia Singer but that doesn't seem to be selling in big numbers, maybe supply issues.

Going buy the amount of unsold VF SS's parked out the front of dealers and adverts for "the last ones left" from several others I would question whether they have run out.

Not dumping SV6's into rental fleets to soak up plant volume would have a big effect on the monthly totals though.

[nitro50th]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Going buy the amount of unsold VF SS's parked out the front of dealers and adverts for "the last ones left" from several others I would question whether they have run out.

Our local dealer also has a heap of VF's out the front. Close to 5 months since they stopped production.

[jpd80]

I think it's fair to assume very few ZB sales last month and that most were still VFII

[mr smith]

How the mighty have fallen..Holden was around 16000 per month with the HQ!

They will be out of the top 10 in 12 months and Holden will be gone in 5 years.

[Adamz Ghia]

When was the last time Ford outsold Holden by such a margin?

[Warrenk]

Originally Posted by mr smith

Holden will be gone in 5 years.

John Cadogan thinks it will sooner than 5 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CJRY6UdOgQ

Warren

[jpd80]

Ranger 3544
Mustang 492

Strong sales of Ranger – up more than 20 per cent – and improved performances by its SUVs lifted Ford sales by 6.9 per cent, to 6059 vehicles, and fifth place in the rankings – behind Mitsubishi and ahead of Honda.

[Craig@AUDI]

Originally Posted by jpd80

It's tragic to see a competitor fall so far, I really feel for the Holden buyers.

Or the poor buggers selling them!

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by Craig@CumberlandFord

Or the poor buggers selling them!

This volume won't support the number of dealerships they have.

I fear there will be closures.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Fordman1

This volume won't support the number of dealerships they have.

I fear there will be closures.

There already has been, and of the forced kind as well. Many dealers had their licences terminated at the end of the last year.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Just general feedback from my locals, the car could be great but they won't touch it.
It's tragic to see a competitor fall so far, I really feel for the Holden buyers.

As a Commodore fan and buyer, I too would not buy the ZB because it’s not a commodore. Just in the same way that a Mondeo isn’t a Falcon.

Both ZB and Mondeo may be great cars, but neither are what I look for in a car.

[naddis01]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Ranger 3544
Mustang 492

Almost as much as Holden combined.

[Brazen]

Commodore was always going to drop off, but I bet their bigger concern is with Equinox.

[malazn mafia]

If anyone predicted back in 2000 that Toymotors, Bitsamissing and HighUndies would beat Ford and Holden, most would have laughed. The future is a nasty thing.

[Express]

Originally Posted by jpd80

JI really feel for the Holden buyers.

If it's just the buyers you feel for, the sales figures doesn't appear to indicate you'll ever need to get too emotional.





.

[EBSXR6]

If you add Hyundai and Kia a clear second in the market.

[Brodes]

The Holden dealer around the corner switched to being a Haval dealer, probably a better bet.