Ford Ranger tops the charts as New Car Sales fall 21.8% year on year in September

It’s not a great time to be in the new car business with Aussies holding back from the big purchases amid the global pandemic according to September 2020 VFACTS figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive industries (FCAI).

Tony Weber, boss of the FCAI says the market is slow, despite dealers hoping to see a trend upwards “First of all, we are seeing COVID-19 health restrictions across Australia, and particularly in metropolitan Melbourne, continue to ease.

“Another sign that the market may improve is the announcement by the Federal Government last week of an easing of lending conditions for private buyers and small business in Australia.

“Freeing up restrictions around financial lending will act as a stimulus for Australian industry,” Mr Weber said.

68,985 new cars were sold, a staggering change of 19,196 less vehicles compared to the same month last year.

The biggest declines are in private sales of Passenger cars and SUVs.

Toyota maintains its utter dominance as the market leader, followed by Mazda and then Hyundai.

Best selling cars in Australia, September 2020

• Ford Ranger 3,726
• Toyota Hilux 3,610 (updated to include 4×2 model)
• Toyota RAV4 2,433
• Hyundai i30 1,786
• Mazda CX-5 1,765
• Kia Cerato 1,599
• Toyota Corolla 1,462
• Mitsubishi Triton 1,446
• Hyundai Tucson 1,199
• Toyota Camry 1,192
• Mazda CX-3 1,188
• Mazda3 1,134
• Kia Seltos 1,089
• Hyundai Kona 1,036

Interestingly, RAV4 sales are down over 2,000 in a month compared to August, likely accounting for a strong backlog of deliveries taking place in August.

Sadly, with Holden closing up, just 522 Holden new cars were sold in September.

For those thinking that’s low, Holden outsold electric vehicles several fold with just 161 EVs sold. That included 41 Nissan Leaf’s, however the Nissan Juke outsold the leaf (49 to 41).

65 of the EVs were SUVs, 96 were Passenger cars.

More encouraging is the grown in Hybrids, with 4,389 Hybrids sold in September 2020 in Australia.

Update: Note – Tesla notoriously do not engage with FCAI and provide their sales data into VFACTS, so true EV sales are not reported. If Tesla want to provide that, we’re all ears.