Industry organisation cites several key reasons

STRONG demand for the latest Outlander (above) helped Mitsubishi maintain leadership of new passenger car sales but the whole market after six months is slowing, with June registering a big drop especially in light commercials, a movement the industry attributes to more than just constrained supply.

The Motor Industry Association, which speaks on behalf of almost new vehicle distributors, also cites the rising costs of living, high fuel prices and a weakening economy.

A registrations count of 12,049 new passenger and light commercial vehicles is 3086 short on June of 2021; that’s a 20.4 percent fall.

Taken in isolation, light commercial sales – mainly, vans and one tonne utilities – in June were almost half the result for the same month of last year; just 2486 of those moved into ownership. The passenger car and SUV count for last month was 9563 units, a 7.2 percent decline on the same period of last year.

The combined overall year-to-date registrations rate is down by 3.1 percent.

Mitsubishi came out on top for new car sales with a 19 percent market share (1827 units) followed by Kia with 15 percent, while the usual market leader, Toyota, held a 13 percent slice.

The top three car choices were two Mitsubishis, the Outlander – which also dominated the plug-in hybrid sector - and ASX, then the Kia Sportage.

Toyota dominated the commercial sector with 37 percent market share and 924 new vehicles registered. Ford followed with 12 percent then Mitsubishi, with seven percent. Hilux was the favoured ute last month, but overall year to date it’s still Ford’s Ranger on top.

In the electric vehicle corner? The leader was the Hyundai Kona, followed by the Polestar 2 and the Kia EV6, but all accrued small counts: 152, 103 and 65 units respectively. Tesla, even with introduction of the Model Y crossover based on the Model 3 sedan that dominated at the start of the year, was all but a no-show, with no cars getting out of Shanghai.

Among plug-in hybrid choices, the Outlander led with 273 units, followed by the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross with 205, then the MG HS (65).

Hybrid action was brisker: 1166 were registered. The top choices were all Toyotas; RAV4 leading with 227 registrations, followed by the Corolla (180) and the Highlander (156).