Australia’s love affair with the humble ute sees four such offerings in the top ten list for new car sales in April, despite the impact of global issues on production and shipping. The local market is down 12.2 per cent, year on year.
Heading the list is the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger, with the Isuzu D-MAX in fifth and the Mitsubishi Triton in sixth. Joining them are the Toyota RAV4 in third, the Mazda CX-5 in fourth, the Toyota Corolla in seventh, and the Hyundai i30 in eighth.
Rounding out the top ten is popular MG ZS and the somewhat unavailable Toyota LandCruiser. Overall, there was a total of 81,065 vehicles sold in April, bringing the year-to-date total to 343,501.
“We know this is not a reflection on the demand for new vehicles in the marketplace.
This is a reflection on the global automotive industry’s ability to supply vehicles to not
only the Australian market, but all markets throughout the world,” FCAI CE Tony Weber said.
“Automotive manufacturers continue to suffer from a shortage of microprocessor units, which is impacting their ability to ramp up production to pre-pandemic levels,” he added.
“COVID-19 continues to impact manufacturing and supply, particularly where factories have
been forced to close and shipping operations are yet to fully recover. This is being reflected in the extended delivery times for new vehicles.”
Sales were down in every State and Territory too, with WA the worst hit, following a 20.4 per cent decrease. They were followed by the ACT, NSW, and Victoria. From a brand perspective, Toyota continues to lead the market by some way.
They head a list that includes Mazda, Mitsubishi, Kia and Hyundai. Across the market, SUVs were the the star performer, despite being down 13.8 per cent in year on year sales, ahead of light commercial vehicles (utes), suffering a 9.6 per cent fall away.
Passenger vehicles (down 14.5 per cent) and heavy commercial vehicles (up 6.5 per cent on very small sales numbers), rounded out the list.
