Continuing its recovery from the GST jitters, Australia’s new vehicle market has set an all-time record 3^rd quarter result.

The VFACTS report, issued yesterday by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, reveals that the strong August recovery had continued into September and helped push the 3^rd quarter result to 217,506 new vehicles.

That’s up 32,124 units, or 17.3%, on the same period last year, with passenger vehicles playing a big part with an increase of 28,204 deliveries (up 21.7%).

Which points up just how important that strong August result was, as last month’s market was actually well short of August, down 13,633 or 18%. At the same time, the September volume of 62,212 new vehicles was up on September 1999 by 2,108 vehicles (3.5%).

Year-To-Date (YTD), the total of 570,997 vehicles is closing the gap and running below the figure for the same period in 1999 by 12,097 vehicles (-2.1%), so the FCAI’s offficial forecast for 2000 remains at 780,000 vehicles.

Having taken the lead in the overall new vehicle market in August by 0.2%, which is the same margin by which it swapped the lead with Holden throughout last year and most of this one, Toyota extended that to 0.4 during September.

The Passenger Vehicle Market increased by 3,073 vehicles (7.3%) versus the same month last year, while the Light Truck Market fell by 749.1 vehicles (-4.6%) and the Heavy Commercial Vehicle Market declined 216 vehicles (-11.9%) over September 1999.

The market segments.

Light Passenger
This budget-conscious segment is hotly contested with 17 models, and the hottest of all right now is Hyundai’s recently released Accent, with 1124 units for 16.3% of the segment. It was followed by Daewoo Lanos on 1000 sales (14.5%). Toyota Echo with 770 (11.1%), Holden Barina on 729 (10.6%) and Ford Festiva, which not so long ago had control of this segment, came fifth on 702 deliveries (10.2%).

 Small Passenger
A strength for Toyota, with the 18 competing models led by Corolla’s 3592 deliveries (25.8%).

Runner-up was Nissan Pulsar with 2073 (14.9%), followed by Mitsubishi Lancer on 1765 (12.7%), narrowly holding off Holden Astra’s 1763 sales (also 12.7%).

Medium Passenger
Again it's  Toyota flexing some serious marketing muscle. One of the smaller segments with just nine competing models, Medium Passenger is being dominated by the four cylinder Camry with 1579 deliveries for 48.6% of the segment.

Holden’s four cylinder Vectra was next with 572 sales (17.6%), followed by Subaru Liberty on 493 (15.2%) and the Mazda 626 with 395 deliveries (12.2%).

Large Passenger
The most keenly watched of all market segments, and seen by many as a barometer of overall consumer sentiment, it could surprise no-one that the eleven contenders were led home last month by Holden Commodore.

With 5973 deliveries giving it 38.5% of the segment, Commodore maintained its advantage over arch-rival Ford Falcon, which sold 4897 for 31.6%.

A fair distance behind is Mitsubishi’s Magna/Verada V6 on 2303 deliveries for a total 14.9% share, and even further back was Toyota’s Avalon in fourth spot. With 1191 sales the biggest Toyota passenger car accounted for just 7.7% share, though its `little brother’ Camry/Vienta V6 took up a bit of the slack with 654 units (4.3%).

People Movers
Another strength area for Toyota, with the eleven competing models led by the newly released Tarago with 373 deliveries (31.2%).

Now firmly dislodged from the lead it held unchallenged for a while is Kia Carnival, 245 sales giving 20.5% share. Another recent arrival, the latest model Honda Odyssey, sold 146 units (12.2%), followed by Chrysler Voyager on 111 (9.3%).

Sports Car
In a segment where the buying decision is likely to be based on emotion, the 19 contenders were led by Toyota Celica’s 112 units (16.9%).

Runner-up on 93 units (14.1%) was the Honda Integra, followed by Peugeot 206 GTI with 72 sales (10.9%) and the Hyundai Coupe on 70 (10.6%). But it’s worth noting that Integra’s stablemate, the Honda Prelude, sold 43 for 6.5%, actually giving Honda 20.6% of the segment.

Prestige Passenger
Up against 19 other worthy contenders in this segment, and beating them all home, was the Holden Statesman with 415 sales (18.0%).

Next in line was the Honda Accord on 312 (13.5%), then the Nissan Maxima with 265 (11.5%), followed by the BMW 318i with 241 (10.4%). The BMW Compact was next on 52 units (2.3%), actually placing BMW third in the segment on 12.7%.

Luxury Passenger
At this level we are a long way from `driveaway with free air’ packages, in a segment that accounted for just 1424 units, a bare 3.2% of the total passenger market, yet it has no less than 62 contending models!

With six of those models in its lineup, BMW took 31.9% of the segment, led by the 3-Series Sedan on 143 sales (10.0%). Runner-up was the Mercedes-Benz E-class on 8.8%, followed by the BMW 3-Series Coupe on 8.2%.

Over the whole segment, Mercedes-Benz has a total of seven luxury models competing and scored 20.2%, followed by Jaguar on 6.1% and Lexus with 4.1%.

All Terrain Wagon Compact
Although the Light Truck Market fell slightly, the All Terrain Wagon segments are almost literally crossing over into passenger country anyway, and showed continued growth.

The 14 contenders here were led home by Subaru Forester on 683 sales (24.7%), followed by Honda CR-V with 609 (22.0%), Kia Sportage 145 (5.2%) and Suzuki Grand Vitara with 141 (5.1%).

Yet again, a second model gave Honda overall segment control, the HR-V selling 118 (4.3%), to give Honda 26.3% share.

All Terrain Wagon Medium
Toyota Prado sold 638 units (20.4%) to regain the lead in this segment from Mitsubishi Pajero, which had 561 deliveries (17.9 %).

Third was the Subaru Outback on 371 (11.9%), then Nissan Pathfinder on 362 (11.6 %) and the Land Rover Discovery on 261 (8.3%).

All Terrain Wagon Large
This `offroad flagship’ segment was led in September by Nissan Patrol on 794 units (40.1%), second going to Toyota Landcruiser with 745 sales (37.6%). But in YTD terms, Landcruiser leads on 8139 units (42.2%) from Patrol on 6499 (33.7%).