VFACTS for May: Battle for market supremacy

Just 71 vehicles separated Holden and Toyota during May, with the GM brand taking the spoils for the month

Toyota is beset by supply issues, following the natural disasters in Japan during March. Holden has just launched its Australian-built version of the Cruze small car. And as we reported yesterday, these two seemingly unrelated matters have handed Holden market leadership for the month of May, according to figures released by industry statistician, VFACTS.

The change of fortunes for Australia's two largest-selling companies may be short-lived. Toyota has gone on the front foot, issuing a press release quoting liberally from senior executive director sales and marketing, David Buttner.

In the release, Buttner apologised to Toyota customers for the stock shortages that have hampered Toyota's sales. He was also quoted saying that the May supply problems would be largely alleviated in June and the company will be back on track at normal logistical levels in July.

"In July we will receive almost the full quota of cars we ordered well before Japan's natural disasters occurred," Buttner said.

"For the rest of the year, our business will basically be back to normal, thanks to a faster-than-expected pick-up in production."

Production of Camry and Aurion at Toyota's Altona plant is anticipated to return to normal output before the middle of June and the Thai factory that builds the HiLux is already running at full capacity, with plant management arranging overtime to fill the backlog of orders for the light commercial vehicle. Toyota also expects Japanese production of its other locally-delivered models to reach 90 per cent of normal levels during June.

Buttner played down Holden's windfall for the month.

"We regard the respectful treatment of our customers and potential customers as a far more important measure of success than a single month's sales," he was quoted as saying.

Holden attributed its success largely to the market appeal of Commodore, Cruze and Captiva rather than Toyota's misfortunes, although its press release did refer obliquely to Toyota in noting "the difficult circumstances many of the competitors were facing". Between them, Commodore and Cruze provided Holden with the two best-selling cars in the market, for the month of May.

Captiva 7 topped the medium SUV segment with 1010 sales, Cruze was the most popular small car with 2914 sales and Commodore was not only the best-selling large car — with 3504 sales — it was the most popular new car across the whole market.

"After a slow start to the year and a challenging few months for the global and local car industry, May has been a positive result for Holden," John Elsworth was quoted as saying in Holden's press release.

"Public reaction to our new and improved Series II range of models is pleasing, and we’re seeing strong enquiry and sales across a number of Holden carlines," Holden's Executive Director of Sales, Marketing and Aftersales continued.

"It's an exciting time for Holden.  Series II Cruze sales are gaining momentum each month and the punchy 1.4-litre iTi powertrain and the new SRi and SRi-V sports models have exceeded our expectations.

"The work we've done to make Commodore even more family-friendly with clever multimedia technology and improved fuel economy has paid off and it continues to do well for Holden."

"We've got a great product portfolio with the right mix to respond to customer requirements."

At 77,406 units, the total market for May, according to VFACTS, was down 13.2 per cent on the result for May of last year. Passenger vehicles, SUVs and light commercial vehicles all contributed to the drop, with passenger vehicles performing worst. Sales in the category for the month (42,582) decreased by 7868 vehicles (-15.6 per cent). SUVs (17,121) slumped by 14.7 per cent, but since the category accounts for a smaller share of the market than passenger vehicles, that amounted to a shortfall of 'just' 2944 sales during May. LCVs (15,240) suffered less than the other two categories in May, with its 6.4 per cent difference, year on year, amounting to 1043 fewer sales than in May 2010.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries is still forecasting a one-million market for 2011, but that figure is based on seasonally adjusted calculations and may not hold true if the importers affected by the quake and tsunami in March can't get back on their feet soon enough.

The top ten selling car companies for the year to date were: Toyota (72,614), Holden (49,743), Ford (36,008), Mazda (35,170), Hyundai (34,444), Nissan (27,599), Mitsubishi (25,283), Subaru (15,642), Volkswagen (15,415) and Honda (12,191). Mazda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen are ahead of their sales tally for the same period last year. The other car companies have fallen behind.

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