Despite another fall in sales of locally made cars in March, the industry as a whole had one of its best months on record.
In fact the 93,984 vehicles sold (according to figures from the Federated Chamber of Automotive Industries yesterday were just 0.8% less than the 94,744 sold in March of 2010, which was one of the three highest selling months so far recorded.
But sales were up 13,000 on February and more than 20,000 on January.
"Notwithstanding slightly lower sales during the month, the demand for new vehicles is broadly consistent with other retail and consumer demand indicators," FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said in a statement yesterday.
"The reality is the overall level of new vehicle sales remains robust and remains well above 1 million units over the past 12 months," he said.
In fact the recent car sales figures point to stronger confidence among car buyers than among most consumers.
The solid month continues the recent trend that has seen car sales remain strong, despite a general caution among consumers when it comes to buying a house or shopping.
This remains one of the great imponderables for local business: why car sales should remain solid while other forms of spending, especially on big ticket items, remains weak.
Car sales in the first quarter of this year were only 1.3% behind the first quarter of 2010 which was boosted by deliveries for the sales made at the end of 2009 under the now expired depreciation benefit for small businesses.
Sales were solid in many catergories, with the rising price of petrol boosting diesel sales to 28.2% of sales last month, up 3% on a year ago.
Diesel sales are now running 2% higher than in the first quarter of 2010.
But that solid spending is being directed at imports, not locally made cars as the strong Australian dollar makes the foreign makes more attractive.
That’s probably why (along with a lack of new models) sales of locally made cars are down 209% from a year ago, according to yesterday’s figures.
Of the 94,384 car cars sold last month only 10,838 were made in Australia.
The Falcon, Territory and Commodore had another poor month, but the new Holden Cruze and an updated Ford Territory could boost local sales after they start rolling off production lines in the next couple of months.
Some Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) are increasingly being substituted for large cars, such as the Falcon and the Commodore.
Compact SUV sales rose nearly 10 % on last year’s figures, thanks in part to the impact of the dollar and their greater fuel efficiency.
But mid-sized SUVs, which include the Ford Territory, fell again in March, down 8.1% on a year ago.
Large car sales slumped by 20.2%, with Ford’s Falcon again hit hardest with just 1719 sales (down from 2496 last year).
Holden’s Commodore was a bit stronger, but the sporty and more frugal Mazda3 still has more sales over the first quarter, 11,159 vs. 10,644 for the Holden.
Toyota vehicles sit in third and fourth overall to date, through the Corolla (9,712 sales) and HiLux (9,411 with lots of diesels being sold in this group).
Toyota was again the top seller, with 18,466 units sold in March for a total of 47,887 for 2011, down on March 2010’s quarterly total of 51,684.
Holden is placed second (29,515), Mazda third (22,883), and Ford fourth (22,713). Hyundai completes the top five, with 20,143 sales.
But Nissan, with more than 7,7000 sales in March, has jumped to number 6 in the year so far with over 18,250 units moved.
Mazda and Hyundai of course are all imports while the Cruze and Barina are big imported sellers for Holden and the Fiesta and Focus are big import sellers for Ford.
Of the top 10 makes, Ford (up 3.4%), Mazda (8.4%), Nissan (more than 19%), Mitsubishi (4.7%), Subaru (5.0%) and Volkswagen (4.6%) lifted first quarter sales this year, compared with 2010.
And those to see falls included; Toyota (off 7.3%), Holden (nearly -12%), Hyundai (-5%) and Honda (-27.4%) compared with the first quarter of last year.
