Aussie Motoring

You could be forgiven for thinking that the Australian new car market was existing on some other planet besides this one. I mean we’re sliding into a recession and money is becoming tight … but the new car market continues to boom month after month and April was no exception.

Australian motor vehicle sales achieved an all time April record, with car buyers apparently still undeterred by recent rises in interest rates.

Official VFACTS figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that a total of 84,061 cars, trucks and buses were sold last month: an increase of 11.2 per cent on April 2007.

“While the April result was boosted by the early timing of Easter, which fell in March, the underlying sales trend remains notably strong and resilient,” said the Chief Executive of the FCAI, Andrew McKellar.

Year-to-date the car market is now up by 5.1 per cent on the all-time record year of 2007.

“Private motorists are buying cars at the same rate as last year (up 0.6 per cent YTD) and business purchases have risen by 12.6 per cent so far this year,” he said.

“The FCAI forecast of one million vehicle sales this year remains firm,” said Mr McKellar.

The main drivers of market growth last month were small cars, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and Light Trucks.

In the Passenger Vehicle Market, the small car segment rose by 3603 vehicle or 24.0 per cent over April last year, while the medium car segment (up 755 or 11.4 per cent) and the light car segment (up 505 of 5.3 per cent) also contributed.

The Light Truck market grew by 3077 or 22.6 per cent, with the Pick-up/Cab-chassis (PU/CC) 4×4 and PU/CC 4×2 segments adding 1403 and 922 sales respectively.

The van segment also grew by 686 vehicles or 42.7 per cent.

Toyota remained the top-selling marque in April with 24.8 per cent of the market, followed by Holden with 12.1 per cent and Ford with 9.8 per cent.

So far this year Toyota leads the sales race with 81,062 from Holden with 44,037 and Ford with 34,533.

Based on a design that was first displayed 30 years ago the BMW M1 Homage is enough to make any car enthusiast drool.

More photos and details are here on the BMW M1 page at Aussie Motoring.

Between January and March of this year BMW have delivered 4,174 vehicles here in Australia and that’s a 12 percent increase on sales for the same time last year.

Despite rising interest rates and some very black days on the share market there’s still a big market for what BMW describe as their “premium brand”

BMW are expecting their sales figures to rise even further when deliveries of the 1 Series Convertible and Coupe begin next month.

The BMW 1 Series Coupe will go sale for $54,400 (plus dealer and on-road costs) for the 160kW 3.0 litre 125i petrol model.

The 120i 1 Series Convertible comes with a little less grunt and is powered by a 4 cylinder 115kW motor and will retail for $52,900 plus dealer and on-road costs.

It’s been a long time since I had to put up with a backseat driver and that’s just as well because I tend to arc up fairly quickly when someone tries to tell me how to drive.

However if I was a member of the United Kingdom’s armed forces otherwise I might have to keep a lid on my temper because backseat drivers are about to be fitted to 200 vehicles belonging to their Navy Army and Air Force vehicles in an effort to improve road safety.

Not only will these automated pests provide instant feedback to the driver but they’ll also provide data for motor pool managers … and if you’ve ever been in the services you’ll understand why many military drivers would shudder at that thought.

You can read the full story here.

I still remember the response when I returned a rather bent truck to the base motor pool one day years ago. The Warrant Officer didn’t care that all the bent bits were on the back of the truck and had been caused by some dopey woman who thought that she could drive a Land Cruiser and do her makeup at the same time … or that I had been stationary at the end of a line of traffic for several minutes before she hit me … or that there was a little matter of rank involved here.

He wanted blood and by God he was going to get it and seeing that the vehicle had been booked out to me so it was my blood he wanted. And if he couldn’t have blood he was going to watch me suffocate in paperwork.

At last there’s some good news for Holden and the motor industry in South Australia. Holden has announced that it will soon be exporting two new cars for the American market from their plant in Adelaide.

Both vehicles will be marketed in America under the Pontiac brand and one of the two will be an Americanised Aussie sports ute. It seems that our poor American cousins have never really been exposed to anything quite like our Aussie sports utes so Pontiac sees it as a “niche” market.

Pontiac will be displaying both vehicles on their stand at the New York International Auto Show that starts next Wednesday.

You can read more about these two vehicles here

The head of Nissan has announced that the company will be launching an electric car into the US market place by 2010.

Nissan and Renault will work together on the required technology and by 2012 will have the vehicle available outside of the United States. Nissan will focus on marketing the vehicle in Asia … especially China … while Renault will sell the vehicle into the European market.

Sales in both January and February have set records for those months, building on a record annual total of more than one million new cars in 2007.

“The February sales result is very pleasing for the automotive industry and shows that underlying demand from private buyers and business remains very robust, reflecting continued outstanding levels of vehicle affordability,” said FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar.

The diversity of market trends was shown by the fact that small cars and large Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) were once again the main drivers of market growth in February.

Light car sales rose by 2,236 or 22.5 per cent, the Small car segment rose by 1,645 or 8.6 per cent and the SUV market grew by 3,365 vehicles or 22.6 per cent.

These gains were partially countered by declines in the Large car (down 2,488 or 19.9 per cent) and Medium car (down 383 or 5.1 per cent) segments.

“The volumes in the Large and Medium segments have been affected by the run-out of several key models. As new models become available in the coming months we would expect to see some turn-around,” said Andrew McKellar.

Mr McKellar said a notable facet of the motor vehicle market last month was the large volume of vehicles being bought by businesses.

Sales of tool-of-trade Pick-up/cab-chassis 4×2 utilities rose by 1,184 or 22.0 per cent, while the Van segment rose by 602 or 39.1 per cent.

Toyota was the top-selling brand in February with 23.0 per cent of the market, ahead of Holden with 13.8 per cent and Ford with 10.5 per cent.

Year-to-date Toyota now leads Holden by 15,916 sales.

… not happy Jan!

The JD Power Group are well-known in the United States for their annual surveys of car buyer satisfaction. Big brand-names like Mercedes have not faired well when consumers are asked to comment on how satisfied they might, or might not be, with the car they’ve purchased and the service they have received.

Now JD Power is doing their surveys here in Australia and Holden and Ford have not faired well. In fact they have done so poorly in the survey they’re at the bottom of the list … in positions nine and ten.

The response by both manufacturers is pretty much what you would expect and you can read more about it here

Yes there is one and there could be another if you happen to have just over $A1.62 million and an urge to own a truly unique car. An urge to travel up to 10 metres below the surface in a car that swims like a fish is optional.

You can find more about the sQuba and a photo here.

Mitsubishi has announced that they will close their South Australian plant in March with the lost of 930 employees.

In a statement released a short time ago Mitsubishi stated that the ” … decision has been made because Australian consumers are moving towards smaller, more economic, and environmentally friendlier cars like those in the rest of the Mitsubishi range.”

Of course the closure of the plant means the end of production for the 380 - the car that very few people seemed to want.

Now if the reasons given for closing the plant are correct then I wonder what’s in store for Ford when they release the new Falcon. Have Australian consumers really moved on from the big 6 cylinder cars?