Toyota Leads New Car Sales Again.

May 7, 2020

All-new compact crossovers Toyota RAV4 premier at Toyota car standing next to showroom entrance

Toyota Leads New Car Sales Again. April 2020.

Steve Sell 05/07/2020

According to the latest VFACTS figures for April Toyota Leads New Car Sales Again.

If you have been wondering what the VFACTS acronym stands for, here it is (Vendor Field Analytical and Characterization Technologies System.) it is the system used as the official measure or record of new car sales in Australia.

Pressure on Motor Dealers.

New car sales fell by nearly 50% in April 2020 putting increased pressure on motor dealers across the country.

There is likely to be a reduction in the number of mortor vehicle dealers around the country in the coming months due to financial pressures from declining sales numbers and profitability.

There is increased pressure from manufacturers to meet sales targets.

Declining New Car Sales

Sales figures for the month of April 2020 show that COVID-19 and social distancing have had a significant impact on New Car Sales figures.

Aprils total of 38,926 new car sales represented a decline of 48.5 per cent compared with April 2019 (75,550 sales).

This is the largest single month decrease since VFACTS figures started being recorded. (1991.)

The April decline has compounded many issues for dealers as they have experienced a steady decline for over 2 years. This is the 25^th consecutive month of new cars sales decline.

Toyota leads new car sales again and has increased market share.

Safe Dealerships.

Dealers are working hard to ensure that their dealerships are accessible and safe and are implementing enhanced hygiene protocols.

These enhanced protocols cover both in- dealer ship and in-car hygiene and include contact-less sales to ensure personal protection for both customers and salespeople.

Finance an Issue in The Car Industry.

Dealers are having to deal with a lack of support from finance companies that have reduced or in some cases stopped financing car purchases for dealers.

This form of financing is called “floor plan” and it is used by the dealer to buy new and used car stock.

Dealers are laying off staff and reducing stock holdings to help manage cash flow.

Lenders are also applying stricter lending criteria to consumer and business purchases and this further restricts sales..

Job Keeper payments have not been paid by the government as at 5 May 2020 and many dealerships and other small and medium sized business were counting on these payments to meet payroll and other obligations.

http://www.loans123.com.au can help with car finance.

Delays in New Car Deliveries.

There will be delays on many pre-ordered cars, because Australia relies on overseas suppliers for new cars.

Many manufacturers are unable to deliver cars that have been ordered months ago due to factory shutdowns in many countries.

Customers are cancelling orders where the cars have not been delivered due to changes in their own circumstances.

This is putting further pressure on dealers bottom lines.

Toyota Leads New Car Sales Again

Some Good News.

The second half of April showed some strong sales results for some dealers.

The dealers that were prepared to open on Easter Monday had (in many instances) strong sales results.

Consumer confidence may begin to improve as lockdown and travel restrictions ease.

Many dealers are looking forward to a return to “normal”, but they are wondering what the “new normal” will look like.

They are questioning whether this period has changed the expectations of employees and clients and how they will meet these expectations.

Instant Tax Write Off.

The increase in the instant asset tax write-off to $150,000.00 could help drive sales up to the 30^th June.

The Federal Government’s $150,000 instant asset write-off may be behind the surge in RAM pick-up sales. An increase by 14.1 per cent in April (from 156 to 178) in a market that was down by 48.5 per cent.

Ram has increased year to date sales by 27.2 per cent (from 621 to 790) compared to the first four months of 2019.

The motor vehicle industry is lobbying the government to extend the write beyond 30 June 2020.

Big Winner.

Toyota was the big winner for April 2020

Toyota has been the market leader in Australia for the past 17 years in a row and  now accounts for over one in four of all new vehicles sold.

Toyotas Market share of 26.5 per cent, is an all-time high for the brand.

Toyota accounted for five of the Top 10 models for the first time in its history in Australia.

The dominance by Toyota, was reinforced by  5 of the top 6 models being Toyota models.

Sales of hybrid vehicles grew by a remarkable 64.1 per cent up from 1711 to 2809, this was largely due to the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

Toyota has increased production of right hand drive RAV 4 and the waiting list is beginning to shorten. The waiting list had been  up to ten months.as supply improves.

Sales were up in April for MG, sales up 1.5 per cent for the month and up 75 per cent year-to-date compared to the same period in 2019.

https://www.wacars.com.au/2020/01/11/299/

The Top 10 Manufacturuers Year to Date as at April 2020 are:

1.Toyota – 60,396
2.Mazda – 23,766
3.Hyundai – 18,941
4.Mitsubishi – 18,357
5.Kia – 17,971
6.Ford – 16,133
7.Nissan – 12,217
8.Honda – 11,154
9.Volkswagen – 11,077
10.Holden – 10,501

Top 10 Vehicle Sales for April 2020 by Model:

1.Toyota Hilux – 2339

2.Toyota RAV4 – 1911

3.Toyota Landcruiser – 1603

4.Ford Ranger – 1540

5.Toyota Corolla – 1195

6.Toyota Prado – 947

7.Kia Cerato – 860

8.Holden Colorado – 854

9.Isuzu D-MAX – 760

10.Hyundai i30 – 695

Toyota Leads New Car Sales Again in April.

The Top Ten Manufacturers for April 2020

+Kia had its best ever result in third place.

++ BMW made it into the Top 10 for the first time ever, ranking seventh.