VFACTS for June: Positive signs in slower sales

Sales last month were close to 13,000 fewer than for June 2010, yet it's a seller's market, claims FCAI

Demand for new cars games continues unabated... but demand isn't the same as supply. Figures provided by industry statistician VFACTS for the month of June indicate a market of contradictions.
96,157 new vehicles sold for the month is a sum 12,565 units fewer than for June 2010. In fact, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, last month's figure was the worst June result in eight years.
Yet it's not all gloom by any means, says the Chamber's chief executive, Andrew McKellar.
"It is clear that sales in the past month were again affected by supply constraints resulting from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami," the FCAI chief said.
"Manufacturers and distributors affected by the Japanese natural disaster are reporting a reliable return of supply. We would expect the effect to dissipate over coming months."
The car companies principally affected by these supply constraints were Japanese, with Toyota standing out in particular. Parts supply adversely affected the company's local manufacturing and also hampered production of imported vehicles built in Japanese and non-Japanese offshore factories. Of the nearly 13,000 lost sales during June, Toyota accounted for 8743 of them.
Toyota does remain upbeat however. At last week's media preview for the Australian International Motor Show in Melbourne, the company's president and CEO, Max Yasuda, reported that normal production had resumed at Altona and Toyota's Thai production facility, with Japanese production back to 90 per cent of capacity. Even with that turn for the better however, there would be a massive backlog of orders to fill — and this is showing up in the end of financial year sales figures. June is traditionally a very strong month for Toyota, but not this year.
"It is now almost four months since the devastating great eastern Japan earthquake..." said Yasuda last week. "The earthquake and tsunami had a major impact on Toyota, placing significant pressure on our people, suppliers, dealers and our customers.
"Fortunately, I am pleased to report that Toyota's return to normal production is proceeding much faster than we expected. Production at our Altona plant here in Melbourne, where we build Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion, returned to pre-quake levels three weeks ago. That required a sterling effort by our employees and suppliers, who worked tirelessly to achieve what many thought impossible..."
Holden is reaping the benefits of Toyota's business interruption, but it's a pretty strong bet that Toyota dealers are still taking orders, it's just that they're not delivering vehicles for the time being —  and that shows up in VFACTS as a deficit.
The FCAI insists the market can still achieve a million-plus sales this year. Based on the year to date, the seasonally adjusted total for 2011 is forecast to be 0.983 million vehicles. Presuming that Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers will put in some overtime for the second half of the year, that 17,000-vehicle difference may not pose that much of a hurdle.
"Depending on the extent of the rebound in supply, we remain hopeful that total sales of more than a million vehicles are still achievable for the full year in 2011," said McKellar.
From the three classes of light vehicles (passenger, SUV and LCV), only the luxury SUVs sold in larger numbers during June than for June 2010. All other segments experienced a slump in sales, but individual makes and models enjoyed some gain.
Volvo, for instance, achieved a record for the month and is 350 units ahead of 2010, year to date.
"Volvo's sales success for the first six months of 2011 is a fantastic achievement," said MD, Matt Braid. "June was the best ever month on record for VCA with 638 sales and Volvo has achieved consistent growth every month this year, despite the overall market being down."
"The XC60 is selling extremely well and the new S60 and V60 are gaining traction in the market. Customers have responded well to our range of Scandinavian designed, European-built, safe and desirable products and, of course, the value-for-money that comes with owning a Volvo."
Renault is also seeing a surge in fortune, with Megane and Fluence carrying the French brand to 75.2 per cent growth for the year to date. Most significantly however, the June sales figure of 410 vehicles constitutes a 298.1 per cent improvement on the figure for June 2010.
"This result in June confirms our view that the repositioning of the Renault brand in Australia was the correct move, and we are confident we will continue to grow sales in this competitive market," said Justin Hocevar, Managing Director of Renault Australia.
And as reported elsewhere, Chrysler and Ford recorded decent sales for the month, to say nothing of Holden overtaking Toyota for the month.
The top ten selling car companies for the year to date were: Toyota (85,128), Holden (62,570), Ford (45,224), Mazda (43,796), Hyundai (42,978), Nissan (33,973), Mitsubishi (31,486), Volkswagen (20,505), Subaru (18,645) and Honda (16,353). Volkswagen overtook Subaru during the month, the German company being one of just four in the top ten boasting sales growth for the year to date. The other three companies are Mazda, Hyundai and Nissan.
The top ten selling cars for the month were: Mazda3 (4212), Holden Commodore (3809), Holden Cruze (3387), Volkswagen Golf (3275), Hyundai i30 (3197), Toyota Hilux (3066), Nissan Navara (2267), Toyota Corolla (2152), Ford Ranger (2148), Mitsubishi Lancer (2061)
Picture: Toyota Australia president and CEO Max Yasuda with colleague David Buttner and the FT-86 sports car at AIMS.
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