New Cars Sales Tumble
Motoring Channel Staff - 4/December/2008
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Car sales in Australia have dived in
November, reflecting a global trend
There tens of thousands of unsold cars sitting in
holding pens across Australia, exacerbated by
the dealerships who are finding it hard to get
finance to buy the cars for their showrooms
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Melbourne, Australia —
New car sales in Australia have been steadily declining over the last
four months, with the recent November sales figures released by the
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) casting a further pall
over the car industry. Though not as bad as the slump in the US -
automakers like Nissan, Chrysler and General Motors saw sales slumps of
between to 40 and 47% - the month of November for Australia new car
sales was the worst in almost a decade. New car sales in the
Australian market fell by more than a fifth - 22.2% - for the
month of November compared to the same month last year. This
represents the largest drop in car sales since the year 2000, when
sales were affected by the introduction of the luxury car tax. Worst
hit were premium large cars like the Holden Caprice and Chrysler 300C,
with the upper large car segment seeing a 63% drop in sales. Another
category hit hard were SUVs, and sales slumps for the Australian
market were also recorded for the following segments:  Large 4WDs: down 50.8%
Luxury 4WDs: down 40.2%
Compact 4WDs: down 28%
Large cars: down 21.1%
Compact cars: down 19.9%
Medium cars: down 15%
"It is clear that people are being more cautious with their money as
the magnitude of the global financial crisis deepens," said the Chief
Executive of the FCAI, Andrew McKellar. "Certainly the most recent
interest rate cut was well justified, and it is hoped this will help
restore some confidence and stability to the marketplace," added McKellar. Overall
sales for the year aren't quite as alarming, with sales dropping
2.9% for the entire year when compared to last year with a total
of 935,684 vehicles being sold. There were 71,647 cars, trucks and light buses sold in November and with a month to go to the end of the year the 1 million sales mark is still likely to be reached. "On
the up-side, there are going to be some very competitive opportunities
for anyone considering buying a car in the near future," said Andrew
McKellar, highlighting the fact that many car makers are now
overstocked with new cars they will be keen to sell en masse. Based
on strong sales figures in 2007 and very positive sales trends for the
first three quarters of 2008, car importers put in large orders for new
cars that are now languishing in holding pens. One marque alone is sitting on 40,000 cars in Australia that aren't likely to be sold in the short term. The global financial crisis continues to limit spending and as banks
stop lending to risky clients and loans become harder to come by,
industries like the automotive sector will continue to have a rough
ride. However with interest rates dropping the downward trend
isn't expected to be long term and some analysts predict that car sales
will rebound in the latter part of 2009. In
November Toyota steam-rolled the competition with almost a quarter off
all new car sales in Australia (24.4%), followed followed by Holden
(13.6%) and Ford
(10.1%). For the entire year Toyota has sold 219,984 vehicles. Holden is in second place with 119,520 and Ford with 97,216 cars sold.
Related Links:
- Ford, GM, Chrysler: Restructured (2009)
- Adelaide Motor Show Cancelled (2009)
- End Game for Saab, Pontiac? (2008)
- US Car Makers Face Grim Future (2008)
- Dealer Finance Crisis (2008)
- Australian Electric Car Network (2012)
- Portable Satellite Navigation (2008)
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