Industry insights: VFACTS November 2021 summary

3 December 2021

VACC Senior Research Analyst, Steve Bletsos breaks down the latest automotive statistics from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Here’s what you need to know…

National scene
The new vehicle market witnessed a decline of 15.3 percent in November 2021, with 80,639 new vehicles sold, which is 14,566 fewer vehicles than in November 2020. The only categories that recorded growth were heavy vehicles and the vehicle rental market (growth of 19.4 per cent and 7.4 percent).

All states recorded a drop in sales in November, the largest being WA, Queensland and Victoria (falls of 19.8 per cent, 19.5 per cent and 19.4 percent).

Year to date, 971,429 new vehicles have sold, which is 150,133 more vehicles than the same time last year. With on-going supply constraints as well as fewer trading days in December, it’s anticipated around 80,000 new vehicles will be sold in December this year, thereby bringing the expected annual total to around 1.05 million new vehicles sold for 2021.

Sales by segment and model
Only three vehicle segments recorded growth in November – micro cars, people movers and light SUVs.

In the micro-segment, it was the Mitsubishi Mirage that saw the strongest growth, up from 37 sold during November 2020, to 649 sold in November 2021.

In the people mover segment the biggest sellers were the Kia Carnival, Hyundai Staria and the LDV G10 wagon.

In the light SUV segment, it was the Hyundai Venue, Suzuki Ignis and the Volkswagen T-Cross that exhibited the largest growth in sales.

There was also a growth in many luxury/sports vehicles sold during the month. The most notable included Aston Martin, which sold 15 vehicles this month compared to 10 in November last year – possibly the new James Bond movie may be a factor here.

Other luxury vehicle sales included:

• Alpine – up from only one sale last November to nine sold in November 2021
• Ferrari – up from nine last November to 26 sold in November 2021
• Maserati – up from 33 to 57 in November 2021
• Genesis – up from 48 to 100 in November 2021
• In terms of brands whose sales fell most in November 2021, these included:
• Land Rover – only 253 sold in November 2021 compared to 560 in November 2020 (-54.8 percent)
• Rolls Royce – from eight to four (-50 percent)
• Honda – from 2,511 to 1,362 (-45.8 percent)

Sales by fuel type
Sales of new petrol, diesel and conventional hybrid vehicles fell in November, with sales of hybrid vehicles showing the largest decline from 6,504 vehicles last November to 4,983 vehicles sold in November this year (-23.5 percent).

Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) continued their strong growth trend, however, with 568 electric vehicles sold this November (excluding Tesla sales), compared to 178 in November last year. Similarly, sales of PHEVs were up from 135 last November to 415 in November 2021.

There were also two hydrogen vehicles sold in November 2021.

Economic trends
While most dealers continue to be impacted by a supply shortage of new vehicles, there are still stocks of many new vehicles available within dealerships that are not selling as per usual. There are reports this stock largely comprises of base model variants of specific vehicle brands, often with limited colour choices, that are not as attractive to cashed-up buyers wanting higher vehicle specifications or features.

These claims are largely supported by economic trends that show:

• Private sector wage growth during the September quarter was the strongest in 6.5 years
• The household saving rate has jumped from 11.8 percent to 19.8 percent, with gross household disposable income up 4.6 percent – the strongest pace in 13 years
• Farm GDP is up 0.3 percent, thus supporting the growth in heavy vehicle sales
• New loan commitments for road vehicles are up 0.3 percent in October.

These economic trends reinforce the fact that consumers have considerable pent-up savings and spending power, but are not willing to compromise by purchasing base model cars and therefore are prepared to wait for the availability of higher specification vehicles and brands.

Data source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

Statistics will be discussed on the next episode of THE GRILLE, a new automotive industry podcast hosted by Greg Rust, Shane Jacobson and VACC CEO, Geoff Gwilym. Out 14 December! Visit: thegrillepodcast.com.au