Aussie Motoring

Australian Muscle in America

by Stuart Livesey

Pontiac will be releasing a new sports sedan in America later this year and once again some Australian muscle will be available in the US. The Pontiac G8 will be a re-badged version of the current Holden SS Commodore built in Holden’s Adelaide plant.

Previously a slightly softer version the Holden Monaro was imported and re-badged by Pontiac.

The numbers are very big

Last year new car sales in the United States totaled 16.55 million units. That’s a nice number that the Australian motor industry would love to achieve but the used car market is where the big numbers really are.

In 2006 42.5 million used cars were sold in the US and eBay want a share of that market. They’ve introduced a new system for car sales that allow dealers to list at the straight selling price. If it proves to be a success it’s possible we may see it here in Australia.

Despite uncertainty about interest rates and fuel costs sales are definitely up

The Australian automotive industry has made a storming start to 2007, notching up record sales in January.

Official VFACTS figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that 76,936 new cars, trucks and buses were sold last month – an increase of 6933 or 9.9 per cent on the record for the month set in January 2006.

Most of the increase was due to a continued boom in the popularity of small and light cars.

Small car sales were up 4105 or 26.3 per cent and Light cars up 1303 or 14.3 per cent.

“This is a long-term trend beyond petrol price volatility, part of a fundamental shift in consumer preferences that’s been gathering momentum for a couple of years,” said the Chief Executive of the FCAI, Peter Sturrock.

In line with the trend, Toyota’s Corolla small car was Australia’s most popular vehicle in January with 3485 sales, narrowly ahead of Holden’s Commodore large car with 3474.

Conversely, the January market saw strong performances in the family vehicle sectors of SUV Medium and Large car.

Medium SUV sales rose 746 vehicles or 17.24 per cent, while Large car sales levelled out after last year’s decline – down just 81 vehicles or 0.9 per cent.

“The reduction in petrol prices in December and January played a part in better sales of family sedans and wagons, but equally significant was new model activity in both segments,” said Peter Sturrock.

Mr Sturrock said January motor vehicle sales were consistent with bullish consumer sentiment evident in record Christmas and post-Christmas retail sales.

While a 10 per cent sales increase spread across the year would see motor vehicle sales top the million mark for the first time, the FCAI is forecasting sales of 970,000 in 2007.

A total of 962,666 vehicles were sold in Australia in 2006 – a 2.5 per cent fall on the all-time record of 988,269 set in 2005.

Toyota was the bestselling brand in January with 16,238 sales, ahead of Holden (11,258), Ford (7501).

In fourth place was a surging Mazda with 6627 sales, up 23.1 per cent on January 2005.

Also enjoying big sales increases were sixth-placed Nissan, which rose 25.1 per cent and seventh-placed Mitsubishi with an increase of 26.8 per cent.

Get the poll results

by Stuart Livesey

Back on January 15 I asked the question: how important is a car stereo when you’re thinking about buying a new vehicle. If you follow the link you will see the reason I originally asked that question.

The poll has now closed and the numbers have been crunched. While there wasn’t a huge number of responses - and certainly not enough to provide a statistically meaningful result - it was interesting to see that 75% of those who responded said that the stereo system fitted to a new vehicle had no influence on their decision to purchase a particular vehicle.

25% agreed that they were influenced in their buying decision by the stereo system that was fitted to the vehicle.

Our small town seems to attract more than it’s fair share of exotic cars. This classic Mustang was caught down on the Esplanade at Hervey Bay this morning.

Is it a rushed job?

by Stuart Livesey

Fiat launched it’s new compact car - the Bravo - on Tuesday just 18 months after design and development of the vehicle began. While the name has appeared in the Fiat lineup before it was dropped in 2001 when a completely new vehicle replaced it.

But now it’s back to compete with the VW Golf and the first impressions are very positive.

It comes in several models including two with turbo-charged 1.4 litre engines that develop some interesting power figures.

Some experts suggest that Fiat will also need to take market-share from the Opel Astra, Peugeot 307 and the Renault Megane so it will be interesting to see how sales go. It will also be interesting to see whether or not the Fiat Bravo makes it to Australia.