Key PointsAustralians purchased 1,216,780 new automobiles final 12 months.The Ford Ranger was Australia’s top-selling automobile in 2023.It outstripped the Toyota HiLux, knocking it off its perch for the primary time in eight years.
Price-of-living pressures have did not dampen Australia’s love affair with the automobile, with gross sales reaching new heights in 2023 regardless of successive rate of interest hikes.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries on Thursday revealed Australians purchased 1,216,780 new automobiles final 12 months – eclipsing the earlier annual file set in 2017 by greater than 27,000.
Utes and SUVs dominated the marketplace for one other 12 months, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of all gross sales and all the prime 10 hottest fashions.
For the primary time, the Ford Ranger was Australia’s top-selling automobile, outstripping 2022’s hottest automobile the Toyota HiLux by 2245 gross sales and knocking it off its perch for the primary time in eight years.
The result’s the fruits of a three-year comeback after COVID-19 decimated provide chains and prompted new automobile gross sales to slide under a million in 2020.
“This extraordinary result’s a testomony to the adaptability and resilience of each business gamers and customers alike,” FCAI’s chief govt Tony Weber stated.
“Regardless of the provision chain disruptions confronted in latest instances, customers now have larger entry to a broad vary of selections, fostering elevated accessibility out there.”
However as customers expend pent-up demand fuelled by COVID-era provide shortages, the business is readying itself for a 2024 slowdown.
Economists predict family buying energy to decrease additional as the consequences of 13 rate of interest rises since Could 2022 and lingering excessive inflation proceed to eat into file financial savings gathered throughout the pandemic.
“Price-of-living pressures and elevated rates of interest will influence the market and we anticipate a difficult 2024,” Weber stated.
However he was optimistic the federal authorities’s proposed gasoline effectivity normal reforms would result in emission reductions whereas enabling Australian customers to drive the automobiles they want and wish.
Electrical automobile gross sales . Greater than 87,000 EVs had been offered final 12 months, accounting for 7.2 per cent of the market in comparison with 3.1 per cent in 2022.
Australians may have much more electrical automobile fashions to select from in 2024, with new entries anticipated from Jeep, Nissan and competitively priced Chinese language producer BYD.
Toyota will lastly introduce its first battery electrical automobile – the 516km-in-one-charge succesful bZ4X – to the Australian market in February.
Toyota was the most well-liked model for the twenty first 12 months working, with greater than 215,000 items offered in 2023, accounting for 17.7 per cent of the overall market.
Mazda, the following closest competitor, managed lower than half that, with 100,008 automobiles offered.
Gross sales had been bolstered by decrease supply wait instances, which had come all the way down to a “cheap” 4 to 6 months within the second half of final 12 months, Toyota vice chairman of gross sales, advertising and marketing, and franchise operations Sean Hanley stated.
“That pattern will speed up this 12 months with a stronger allocation of worldwide manufacturing destined for Australian prospects,” he stated.
It is a marked enchancment for the business, which was nonetheless struggling supply delays of over 12 months in 2022.
