General News
22 January, 2025
Tough outlook after record
A NEW record for vehicle sales in 2024 is receiving a subdued reaction from the industry as consumers face a tough start to 2025 caused by economic and political challenges.
The monthly December VFACTS result showed that 95,895 new vehicles were sold during the month, 2.7 per cent lower than the same period in 2023. This resulted in 1,220,607 new vehicle sales for the full year, an increase of 0.3 per cent on 2024 and the best result recorded in Australia.
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said that, while very strong sales in the first half of 2024 set up the full-year result, the momentum in the market was lost as the year progressed.
“The second half of the year showed a concerning trend with sales in the private segment falling to very low levels as interest rates and general cost of living pressures impacted Australian families,” he said.
“Customers are also increasingly making choices regarding environmental outcomes and the associated total cost of ownership of moving to low emissions technologies.
“So, while the sales of battery electric vehicles are lower than expected, this is offset to a degree by an increasing number of buyers turning to hybrid and plug-in hybrid models which make up 14.1 per cent and 1.9 per cent of the total market respectively.
“While overall consumer preferences remain clear with SUVs and light commercial vehicles continuing to dominate the market and, especially the top 10 sales, many vehicles in these segments are either difficult or expensive to decarbonise. This will prove to be a significant challenge in meeting the extremely ambitious targets of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) which began on January 1.
“The industry is responding to NVES by increasing the range of zero and low emission vehicles on offer. However, a continuation of current customer buying preferences will inevitably lead to the accrual of substantial penalties under the government’s new scheme, which will create price inflation within the new vehicle market.”
Mr Weber said lower than expected sales results for battery electric vehicles were being replicated in a number of major markets around the world.
“Manufacturers in the UK, Europe and the USA are under pressure because they have made huge investments to manufacture EVs, but customers are not buying them in the numbers needed to meet emission targets and to provide a return on investment,” he said.
For the calendar year 2024, Toyota was the biggest selling brand with sales of 241,296 and 19.8 per cent market share followed by Ford (100,170/8.2 per cent) and Mazda (95,987/7.9 per cent) in third place.
