New Car Sales February 2018

Details: Written by James Kelly; Published: 05 March 2018

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has reported 95,999 new car sales in February, an increase of 7.8 per cent over the same month last year.

VFACTS data released today shows a year-to-date cumulative total to 184,550 new cars sold representing a 6.1 per cent increase in registrations in the first two months of 2018 compared with the same period last year.

SUVs remained the dominant segment with 41.5 per cent of the market, the body style continues to build its lead over passenger cars which held a 35.9 per cent share, while light commercials climbed to a 19.5 per cent share.

Toyota is still Australia’s favourite brand with 18,281 sales representing a 19.0 per cent market share. Toyota’s success appears to have no limits, the Japanese maestros have moved an additional 33,600 vehicles in 2018 when compared to the opening two months of last year. The HiLux ute remains on track for the three-peat.

As always, there was a long drop back to second on the podium with Mazda recording 9913 sales.

Hyundai rounded out the top three with a strong result of 8001 sales, which remarkably, is a neat 1000 cars better than February 2017.

The big mover was Honda with 4962, an improvement of 55.3 per cent. Honda charged into the top ten on the back of the CR-V (up 149 per cent), Civic (up 70 per cent) and the Jazz (up 48 per cent).

Other February winners included Isuzu (up 37.4 per cent), Mitsubishi (up 24 per cent), Kia (up 11.7 per cent) and Nissan (up 9.9 per cent).

Peugeot achieved a 17.3 per cent improvement, however, the French maker only moved 210 cars. It’s a very underwhelming result considering the amount of fresh metal in the local portfolio. Plenty hinges on the success of the 3008 (review coming this week) and 5008 SUV lines.

The biggest fall came from Holden, the once mighty lion fell to eighth spot with an 18.1 per cent drop in sales. Holden’s bean counters must be concerned, their newest offering, the new Equinox, only managed 360 sales. All eyes are now on the performance of the all-new imported Commodore.

At the premium end, British marques Jaguar and Land Rover were both down, 44 per cent and 23.8 per cent respectively. This is somewhat surprising, there are some brilliant cars wearing Jag and Land Rover badges. The incoming E-PACE SUV should boost Jag’s numbers.

The premium segment leader, Mercedes-Benz sold 2764 cars, a fall of 9.6 per cent.

Top 10 selling new vehicles – February 2018

Toyota HiLux - 4426

Ford Ranger - 3544

Toyota Corolla - 3270

Mazda 3 - 2935

Mazda CX-5 - 2191

Hyundai i30 - 2182

Mitsubishi Triton - 1894

Toyota RAV4 - 1841

Volkswagen Golf - 1786

Nissan Navara - 1779