VFacts June 2012

[Mr_Magoo]

Good to see some positive news for Ford:

he car industry set a new monthly sales record last month. New-car buyers helped drive the best June sales – and best month – on record.
The result comes just a day after capital city home prices posted their largest monthly increase in two years, reflecting an economy on the rebound.
But as motorists embraced small cars, utes and SUVs the Holden Commodore – Australia’s favourite car for 15 years in a row until the end of last year – slipped to sixth place for the first time in the history of the nameplate.
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The new-car market was up by at least 14 per cent on June 2011, with a tally of about 110,000 sales according to preliminary data. Official figures are released tomorrow.
The previous June record – also an all-time monthly high – was set in 2010 with 108,722 sales.
The Toyota HiLux was the top selling vehicle for the third month in a row for the first time ever – and only its eighth monthly win – with 4300 sales.
Sales for market leader Toyota were up 73 per cent in June compared with the same month last year – but the figures are skewed due to a lack of vehicles this time last year because of the Japanese tsunami.
The top-selling passenger car was the Mazda3 (3900) for the sixth month in a row, narrowly ahead of the Toyota Corolla (3800).
The locally-made Holden Cruze followed in fourth place (3057) but Nissan’s Navara ute made it into the top five for the first time with 3037 sales, just 20 sales shy of Cruze.
Nissan’s record performance – believed to be the best sales month in 20 years since it ceased manufacturing and became a full importer – pushed the Holden Commodore back to sixth place (2700).
Sales of the Commodore were down by 29 per cent compared with the same month last year.
But Holden in general also had a shocker, down 17 per cent on same month last year largely due to weak sales of the Commodore and slow arrival of Colorado ute supplies.
Indeed, Isuzu’s D-Max (a twin under-the-skin to the Holden Colorado) narrowly outsold the Holden example (911 to 899 sales) despite Isuzu having a much smaller dealer network.

Ford was down 0.8 per cent compared with June last year and posted 9100 sales – but had a couple of rays of light.
The Ford Territory SUV achieved its highest sales in five years (June 2007) with 1800 orders, although the Mazda CX-5 was the country’s top selling softroader for the second month in a row (1955 sales).
The Falcon sedan (1400) and ute (600) posted their best results all year, and the Ranger its best result in two years as supply continues to improve.
Volkswagen had its best month ever, eclipsing 6000 sales for the first time, according to preliminary data.'
Buoyed by $21,990 drive-away deals the Golf hatchback had its second best result on record with about 2500 sales (its best month ever was October 2011 with 3337 sales).
Meanwhile, South Korean car maker Hyundai, now regularly in the top five brands outright, has opted out of sharing its sales figures before the official data is released midday tomorrow.
Car makers voluntarily exchange their sales figures on the first business day after end-of-month, up to three days ahead of the official release from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
But these figures are preliminary and final figures are subject to change.
Drive understands Hyundai opted out of the arrangement because when the figures were shared last month it was ahead of Nissan by between 50 and 100 sales – but when the official data was released days later, Nissan had eclipsed Hyundai (6966 versus 6886 for May 2012).
Typically, Hyundai has a clear lead over Nissan; this time last year it had a gap of more than 10,000 sales year-to-date, although Hyundai’s lead had narrowed to less than 4000 sales year-to-date in May 2012.
Nissan spokesman Jeff Fisher told Drive: “We did the numbers that we did. It was all reported correctly. They [Hyundai] declined to participate [this month] you’d have to talk to them about that.”
Hyundai director of marketing Oliver Mann told Drive: “We’re very happy with the accuracy of the official sales numbers reported in the monthly VFACTS report. I couldn’t possibly comment on why Hyundai no longer participates in an unofficial exchange of sales statistics with other manufacturers.”
Top 10 June 2012 – Preliminary
Toyota Hilux 4308
Mazda3 3924
Toyota Corolla 3800
Holden Cruze 3057
Nissan Navara 3037
Holden Commodore 2743
Volkswagen Golf 2500
Mitsubishi Triton 2180
Mazda CX-5 1955
Ford Territory 1800


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