2017 Fourth Record Year in Row for New Vehicle Registrations

2017 Was the Fourth Record Year in a Row for New Vehicle Registrations

David Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association says, “a continued robust tourism sector, which in turn drove healthy sales of rental vehicles, helped to make the month of December the strongest on record with 11,570 new vehicle registrations. The month of December was up 9.6% (980 units) on December 2016 and took the 2017 calendar year to an all-time new record, the fourth year in a row with a total of 159,871 registrations on corrected figures. Registrations for the 2017 year were 9.0% (13,118 units) above the 2016 outturn.”

The total registrations of passenger and SUVs for 2017 were up by 5.8% (5,945 units) and commercial vehicles by 16.2% (7,173 units) compared to the 2016 outturn.

For the month of December, Toyota remains the overall market leader with 26% market share (2,992 units), followed by Holden with 10% (1,142 units) and Mitsubishi with 8% market share (947 units).

Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with a massive 29% market share (2,397 units) followed by Holden with 8% (669 units) closely followed by Mitsubishi with 8% market share (662 units). The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota Corolla (1,116 units of which 1,011 were rentals) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (516 units of which 309 were rentals) and the Mitsubishi ASX (287 units).

In the luxury sector passenger and SUV sector, Mercedes-Benz retained the 2017 market leader spot with 2,540 registrations, followed by Audi with 2,060 registrations and BMW with 1,954.

In the commercial sector, Ford was the market leader with 19% (657 units) followed by Toyota with 17% (595 units) and Holden third with 14% market share (473 units). The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 17% share (597 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 13% share (442 units) closely followed by the Holden Colorado also with 13% (439 units).

For the second year in a row, the Ford Ranger remained both the top commercial vehicle model and the top model overall with 9,420 registrations compared to 8,106 for the Toyota Hilux and 7,797 registrations for the Toyota Corolla.

Vehicle segmentation for the 2017 year reflects the changing patterns of new vehicle registrations with SUV’s and light commericals dominating the market, and only the small vehicle segment breaking into the top five spots with 12% share. The top two segments for the year were SUV medium vehicles with 17% share (26,515 units) followed by the Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 segment with 14% (22,175 units). SUV large and SUV compact round out the top five spots with 11% each of the market.

“Distributor expectations for 2018 indicate maintenance of current levels of activity, but further steady growth in the new vehicle sector above 2017 outturn is not expected.” said Mr Crawford.

ENDS.

© Scoop Media