April Sales - Falc up 24%

[vztrt]

Well this is just a report but I assume Ratt will be able to provide us with all the figures.

A quick look
- Local Toyota sales down by 50%
- Falcon up by 24%
- Toyota sales down by 37%
- Holden down by 23%
- Ford down by 17%
- Mitsubishi down by 37%
- Honda down by 30%
- Mazda and Nissan down by 24%
- Hyundai up by 12%
- Territory sold 635 units, a drop of 40%

Toyota plant under pressure as sales dive

* Richard Blackburn
* May 5, 2009

THE slump in new car sales worsened dramatically in April, with local manufacturer Toyota worst hit by falling demand.

Sales of Toyota's Camry and Aurion sedans, which are built in Melbourne, were down about 50 per cent on a year earlier.

The result puts increasing pressure on Toyota's Altona manufacturing plant, which competes with seven other Camry plants around the world, including low-cost ones recently set up in China and Russia.

When the current Camry and Aurion models were launched in 2006, Toyota forecast combined local sales of about 4500 a month. Last month they sold only about 2000.

However, the plant has been a successful exporter, with about 100,000 cars sent offshore last year. It is also due to begin production of a low-emissions hybrid Camry from next year.

While there has been no serious talk of the plant being under threat of closure, further poor local sales figures could bring it under scrutiny from Toyota head office in Japan.

Official figures for last month won't be released until later today, but most top-selling brands have recorded bigger drops in sales than they did in the first quarter of the year.

Sales were down by roughly 20 per cent in the first three months of the year, but preliminary figures obtained by The Age suggest total April sales could be down by as much as 25 per cent.

Toyota's sales fell 37 per cent compared with April last year, Holden sales were down by 23 per cent and Ford 17 per cent.

Mitsubishi (down 37 per cent) and Honda (down 30 per cent) have also been hard hit, while Mazda and Nissan both dropped 24 per cent. The one bright spot was the performance of value Korean brand Hyundai, which recorded a 12 per cent increase in sales.

Of the other locally made cars, Ford's Territory off-roader continued its dramatic slide, with just 635 sold in April, a drop of 40 per cent on the same month last year.

The Ford Falcon was the only bright spot for the locals, up 24 per cent on last year, although sales were half what they were five years ago and about 1000 units shy of its main rival, the Holden Commodore.

The results will put increasing pressure on the Federal Government to introduce a "scrappage scheme", which offers financial incentives to people to scrap old cars for newer models.

The scheme has been introduced in Germany with spectacular success, prompting the British Government to follow suit last month.

To date, Australia has not considered a similar scheme, preferring to offer a 30 per cent tax rebate to small businesses that buy company cars before the end of the financial year.

But legislation for the scheme is yet to be passed, and car dealers claim buyers are holding off until the rebate is confirmed. This is unlikely to happen before the middle of June, just two weeks before the scheme is due to end.

The chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Andrew McKellar, said yesterday there was a case for the tax rebate period to be extended past the June 30 deadline.