VFACTS August 2013

[BroadyFord]

Not good...

FBT slams brakes on local car-makers

http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and...cal_car_makers

Preliminary figures show Ford and Holden sales were hit hardest, Toyota also dipped.
Sales of Ford and Holden cars are on track to hit 20-year lows unless there is a sudden turnaround before the end of the year.

Australia’s three car manufacturers posted sales declines in August and the record pace of the new-car market appears to have been slowed by the Rudd Government’s changes to Fringe Benefits Tax rules.

Only four of the top ten brands had sales increases -- Mazda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen -- according to preliminary data shared by the industry ahead of Wednesday’s official VFACTS announcement.

Sales of top-seller Toyota dipped by 1 per cent in August, its second decline in a month, in a market that had been posting 5 per cent increases in the first half of the year. But Ford sales dropped by a massive 20 per cent and Holden by 10 per cent, preliminary figures show.

The locally-made Falcon fell to a new 53-year low of just 580 deliveries while sales of its Territory SUV sibling (830 deliveries) dropped to a little more half the same month last year. Buoyed by the first new model in seven years the Holden Commodore posted a modest increase of 400 sales compared with the same month last year.
But Holden had a higher internal forecast than the 2800 Commodores it delivered in August. Meanwhile Holden’s Cruze small car posted a 10 per cent sales decline. The locally-made Toyota Camry sedan managed to post a modest increase of just 150 sales but only after Toyota switched to drive-away pricing and low interest rate deals to attract private buyers to make up for the shortfall in fleet orders.

The Mazda3 small car posted its first monthly win since March this year but the Toyota Corolla still leads the year-to-date tally. Small-car buyers are set for a discount showdown between the two Japanese imports as Toyota races towards its first ever top-selling car crown in Australia while Mazda tries to make it three in a row.

Sales of Nissan vehicles, meanwhile, continue to fall off a cliff. When it relaunched the Pulsar name Nissan said it would challenge the top-selling small cars on its way to becoming the top import brand overall. But Nissan, which had beaten Ford and Holden in February in the lead-up to the end of the Japanese financial year, posted a massive 26 per cent slide in August compared with the same month last year.

In other upsets, South Korean car maker Kia almost overtook Subaru and German car maker Volkswagen almost overtook Nissan. The official sales figures for August issued by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries are due to be published midday Wednesday.

Top 10 brands in August*
Toyota 17,750 -- down 1 per cent
Holden 10,600 -- down 6 per cent
Mazda 9800 -- up 27 per cent
Hyundai 7800 -- up 1 per cent
Ford 6200 -- down 20 per cent
Mitsubishi 5600 -- up 38 per cent
Nissan 4750 -- down 26 per cent
Volkswagen 4500 -- up 4 per cent
Honda 3300 -- down 14 per cent
Subaru 2880 -- down 10 per cent

Top 10 cars in August*
Mazda3 4180
Toyota Corolla 3680
Toyota HiLux 2880
Holden Commodore 2800
Hyundai i30 2550
Toyota Camry 2380
Holden Cruze 2370
Mazda CX-5 1910
Toyota RAV4 1780
Holden Colorado 1720

[Trump]

The FBT changes haven't even been legislated and they've had this large an impact... doesn't bode well at all for new car sales...

[duaned]

Only 580 Falcons? That's terrible. It's hardly worth having them on the market thanks to many dealerships not stocking the Falcon and non-existant marketing. I think the update needs to come sooner and bring something special to the table with a big push to the public and government depts.

[BP'93]

So Ford announce Falcon will leave in October 2016 and haven't done anything in the past months to increase sales. No ads, no price cuts to match VF, no existence in the marketplace and they wonder why they aren't selling any cars.

It's quite sad and downright embarassing what Ford did to Falcon and they've already paid the price. How Falcon is able to stay alive until the facelift due roughly September-October next year beats me.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by BP'93

So Ford announce Falcon will leave in October 2016 and haven't done anything in the past months to increase sales.

They had 5 year warranty in June. Then they have had 3 years free servicing deal.

Also the prices for a stock model are fairly cheap.

[Elks]

So the top ten consists of

4 x Toyotas
3 x Holdens
2 x Mazda
1 x Hyundai.

Not 1 Ford. Where is Focus, Fiesta & Ranger?

I normally try to stay out of the Ford bashing but this is a poor result. Forget Falcon. ( I can't but ....... ) this is Fords future and a poor result. Don't give me supply issues again. This is there future. They need to get supply right.

They have a great range of cars that nobody wants. They are lacking something.

Ideas.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by Elks

So the top ten consists of

4 x Toyotas
3 x Holdens
2 x Mazda
1 x Hyundai.

Not 1 Ford. Where is Focus, Fiesta & Ranger?

They have a great range of cars that nobody wants. They are lacking something.

Ideas.

Someone new to sell and service them. Really Ford keep ducking around the hard stuff. Their dealer network is stuffed and has burn't way to many customers over the years. Until Ford bites the bullet and tears up their contracts and starts again, the best Ford can hope for is to be in the bottom half of the top ten.

Without Australian built Falcon and Territory to make some get over the dealer network issues, its now a level playing field with other importers and on that front they don't stack up well at all.

The sad bit is if Ford had tackled this years ago and raised their own standards for warranty and recalls, both Falcon and Territory might have had a few more years left in them.

[PepeLePew]

If Abbott gets in this weekend we may get a real idea of the impact if we see a consequent sales SPIKE and a top 10 shuffle.

[1TUFFUTE]

Funny thing is...I've seen more territory and fiesta/focus adds then ever this month.....what's going on????

[Rob 351]

Colarado outselling Ranger.... There is a suprise!

[Elks]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

Funny thing is...I've seen more territory and fiesta/focus adds then ever this month.....what's going on????

There is a case study on this. Leyland, yes Leyland fell for the same thing 30+ years ago. Things were tight so the cut the marketing spend. Made no difference. So they cut it further then after 12 months sales were tailing off but so they reinvested in some advertising. But all all to late. They had fallen off everyone's radar. No on the "shopping list".

These things are like a super tanker. They run on momentum, they take a long time to stop but even more to restart.

The parallels are scary.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by Rob 18

Colarado outselling Ranger.... There is a suprise!

Yeah I watched a comprehensive video comparo of all the utes yesterday... And if anyone watched it...the Colorado would be one of the last on the shopping list. Even the four year old triton and hilux get the nod over the Holden. Yet the sheep will still come......

[jpd80]

Just about every Ranger buyer wants the 3.2 I-5 diesel and auto...

[Rob 351]

& still about a 6 month wait..

[FG50T]

I work at a Toyota dealership and there was a huge difference this month compared to the past 12 months there. It was a real yawn fest.

[sbutler]

How to stuff whatever is left of the Australian car manufacturing industry.
Thank Kev thanks!

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by Rob 18

& still about a 6 month wait..

Because they can't get the auto transmissions they are being prioritised to the F series in the US.

[P6LTD351]

Falcon's gone. We know that, and the public knows that, hence the marked downturn in sales. FBT has some impact but not all of the impact.

Commodore is in trouble too. 2800 is not good considering it's the new model. I don't know why people are even worrying about FBT, there is NO chance that Kev is getting back in. Make no mistake, it was just an opportune time for these leasing companies to downsize by making redundancies with a 'credible' excuse.

[GT69]

It must be the done thing, Have your CEO come out and say your going to be top Brand in Australia. Then quietly exit the market. Nissan was only selling their left overs at cut prices, once everyone got their fill of cut price D22 and D40 navara's, it became game over. Ford want to be number 1 brand? They cant even supply vehicles now, how do they intend to take on Toyota? Besides that the cars they can supply (build here), they don't bother building in the first place.

[SpoolMan]

Discuss the vfacts numbers and leave the politics and silly remarks for elsewhere.

[buggerlugs]

Isn't the Mazda 3 still the old model ?? And what's with Mitsubishi ? That is a huge increase............

[Franco Cozzo]

Its all well and great having this awesome production capability in Thailand which can pump out eleventy million vehicles a second, but it doesn't help that their supplier for their gear boxes can't meet demand, and that Australia is considered a tiny market so they won't take priority. So for your awesome new Ranger you end up waiting 6+ months for delivery, makes people look elsewhere where they can get their shiny new car sooner.

The two times I've bought new cars from the dealership I've got stock within Australia or one sitting on the shop floor, I'm not waiting 6 months for my car.

The same thing has happened with WS Fiesta launch in 2009, they brought over a tonne of CL's instead of Zetecs, and people ended up waiting 6+ months for their cars.

Same thing with Mercedes Sprinters at work with the Victorian Government, Ambulance Victoria is waiting for a new budget, says they want X amount of ambulances before the end of the financial year, they have to wait for their budget to clear, then they order the vans from Mercedes.

The vans have to be made in Germany and shipped to our workshop as they don't tend to hold stock, Australia gets pushed to the side because its a low volume market so everyone ends up waiting months for their vehicles, including us we end up dwardling around for a month or two waiting for Mercedes Sprinters to turn up, then 15 turn up at once and its every man for himself.

Towards the end of the financial year more keep coming in with the same deadline and everyone is getting pumped hardcore to get vehicles out.

[nstg8a]

No real surprise there, Holden must be quietly pooing themselves, Vf is a failure, at least for now. As said, let's see what happens after the election.

But Holden would have been better of keeping ve running, selling omegas for 20k, ss's for 30k driveaway. The money they lose on the sales would still be less than what Vf has/is costing. Especially if Holden are gone 2017.

At least volume may have improved.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by SpoolMan

Discuss the vfacts numbers and leave the politics and silly remarks for elsewhere.

I get what you're saying, but unfortunately the two are inseparable in the current climate.

[zoomie]

Originally Posted by Elks

So the top ten consists of

4 x Toyotas
3 x Holdens
2 x Mazda
1 x Hyundai.

Not 1 Ford. Where is Focus, Fiesta & Ranger?

I normally try to stay out of the Ford bashing but this is a poor result. Forget Falcon. ( I can't but ....... ) this is Fords future and a poor result. Don't give me supply issues again. This is there future. They need to get supply right.

They have a great range of cars that nobody wants. They are lacking something.

Ideas.

The Ford "brand" is on the nose to most buyers which is sad.

Example: I had a female work college set to buy a new focus sport but she ended up changing her mind and bought a hyundai i30 elite... why you might ask?

Her husband and others got in her ear by saying fords are crap, the focus is expensive to service/insure etc and Fords aftersales service is crap...She obviously believed them

[turbodewd]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

...Vf is a failure...

Commodore is 4th in VFACTS despite being in a dead segment, apparently.

No idea what maths youve done, but 4th in the Australian market TODAY is a very good result.

Fourth!!! 4th!

The cars that beat it are $10,000 cheaper, they are meant to sell more small cars than large.

This tells me if Ford promoted the Falcon it would sell, just needs a bit of buzz.

[Polyal]

While this might be a wild exaggeration and unfair on some within FoA the soul and passion of the place is dead.

Until the new Falcon is out then its going to be tough, it should be fast tracked ASAP because while obviously the future doesnt depend on it the brand seems to loose its aura which again is frightening moving forward.....

They seriously need to have a look at repairing the damage THEY caused by letting go of the Falcon, IMO the general public see how Falcon owners are treated, the service stories etc...someone tell me why someone should be enticed.

As mentioned, its a farce because their line up is genuinely impressive.

If anyone could be bothered it would be interesting to see how Mitsubishi fared a year or two after the Magna/380 left.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by turbodewd

Commodore is 4th in VFACTS despite being in a dead segment, apparently.

No idea what maths youve done, but 4th in the Australian market TODAY is a very good result.

Fourth!!! 4th!

The cars that beat it are $10,000 cheaper, they are meant to sell more small cars than large.

This tells me if Ford promoted the Falcon it would sell, just needs a bit of buzz.

The would have been banking on a big sales surge with the new model. Once the gloss of the new VF wears off it will continue it's slide into the abyss. It's just a matter of time. Holden must be stressing hardcore, they spent a bomb on this thing and it needs to sell in boatloads to make back that investment.

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by turbodewd

Commodore is 4th in VFACTS despite being in a dead segment, apparently.

No idea what maths youve done, but 4th in the Australian market TODAY is a very good result.

Fourth!!! 4th!

The cars that beat it are $10,000 cheaper, they are meant to sell more small cars than large.

This tells me if Ford promoted the Falcon it would sell, just needs a bit of buzz.

I agree on face value it looks like a good result, but is it really? How much did Holden spend on the Vf update? 300 mill? 500 mill? More? It's a lot of money to spend to only increase their sales by hundreds...

And the market is so segmented that there's only 500 units from Holden being fourth, to seventh.

When you consider how many ve owners would have been hanging out waiting for for Vf, and the high percentage of v8 sales indicates its more the enthusiast side of the market buying than usual, what will the numbers look like in two months time? Or 6?

A big advertising push, a new model.. I think Holden will be dissappointed in the results.

Can only hope things swing round after the election.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Holden are at full till apparently trying to fill export (US) and build a lot of cars locally ordered. Most VF's are built to order rather then stock so it will take time to get things sorted. 2800 units for the month is an awesome result considering they build cruze, caprice, ute and export on the same line. They would have built at least 7500 units for the month which is good for local industry!