The roller coaster ride continues for the new car industry with sales up fractionally (1.6%) for passenger cars in October. Once again rental car sales has boosted numbers considerably and one has to wonder just how many true retail sales have been made and what profit margins are currently being achieved.
A total of 5,680 new passenger cars were registered for the month, the best result recorded thus far in 2009.
"While we are satisfied that the new car market appears to be holding showing a minimal increase in passenger car sales from September, we are still cautious about prospects for the remainder of the year and are taking a slow but steady approach" says The Motor Industry Association CEO Perry Kerr.
In comparison to the same month last year passenger sales were down 24.1% while commercial vehicle sales took a drop in October with 1,218 registrations, down 16.2% on September.
The high number of rental car sales will no doubt ensure a good supply of used cars to the market in in 2010.
Highlights
- Total Toyota Corolla numbers (1,111) were helped with a staggering 972 rental sales.
- Falcon and Commodore numbers were also helped considerably with sales to rental car companies (272 & 203 respectively).
- Mazda and Hyundai continue their battle for market share with Mazda holding onto fourth place by the slimmest of margins (15 sales YTD).
- Kia continues to strengthen claiming eighth place for the month overall.
- Honda continues its slide in numbers with only 164 passenger cars registered for the month dropping them to 10th place with a market share of just 2.38%.
- While Holden beat Ford for second place in sales for the month, Ford hold second place behind Toyota year to date.
More information
October 2009 new car sales stats - (90 Kb PDF)