Australian new-vehicle market continues decline in April

Australia’s declining new-vehicle market continued its slide in April, with Kia the only top-10 brand to record positive sales growth for the month, according to the latest VFACTS sales data.

After a dream first quarter of 2019 due to strong value propositions across its range, Mitsubishi’s sales momentum faltered in April – down 14.4 per cent, the third-largest fall of the month – but it still remains in positive territory for the year to date, up 12.3 per cent.

Its ASX small SUV was one of the primary reasons for its faltering April figures, with a 40.9 per cent decline.

The Mitsubishi ASX was down 40.9 per cent.

The monthly slide saw Mitsubishi fall to fifth place on the overall sales ladder with 4717 units, while a 0.4 per cent lift in April saw Kia not far behind with 4521 new registrations.

Kia’s market-defying 0.4 per cent growth in April can largely be attributed to its Cerato small car, which recorded a 1.04 per cent lift to finish with 1650 sales, enough to be seventh-best selling model overall.

As per usual, Toyota finished atop the sales ladder with 15,135 sales in April, despite a 9.1 per cent drop over last year.

Helping it stay on top were the perennially popular HiLux ute (3621 sales, up 0.1%) and Corolla small car (2429, -23.1%), while the Prado notched eighth place with 1473 units (-13.3%).

Mazda remained relatively steady in April with a 1.0 per cent overall decline to finish with 7644 sales – enough for second overall – with the Mazda3 small car (2195 units, -2.9%) and CX-5 medium SUV (1827, +5.9%) doing the bulk of the heavy lifting.

Hyundai climbed to third position with 6469 sales (down 9.3 per cent), with the fifth-placed i30 small car remaining steady (1910 sales, +0.4%), however with 1355 units, its ninth-placed Tuscon medium SUV experienced a big slide to the tune of 25.4 per cent.

Ford snared fourth position on the back of its consistently popular Ranger ute (3011, +7.7%), which represented 62.7 per cent of its 4803 combined sales.

With Mitsubishi and Kia finishing in fifth and sixth respectively, Volkswagen recorded the best April result of all European brands with 3505 units but slid 10.5 per cent overall.

At eighth position with 3483 sales, Holden recorded the second-largest decline with a 23.9 per cent skid.

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Nissan held firm with 3025 sales (-0.1%) to claim ninth position, while a hefty 25.2 per cent slide saw Subaru round out the top ten with 3006 sales.

The only model to feature in the top ten for April without the manufacturer also being a top-ten brand was the Isuzu D-Max, which finished an even tenth with 1354 sales – a solitary unit behind the ninth-placed Hyundai Tucson.

Will the Australian new-car market see positive growth at any point this year? Tell us what you think in the comments below.