20 November 2012

Australian Vehicle Production By Make: 1997-2011


The Australian car market has traditionally been strong in large, basic cars. The GM Holden Commodore,  Ford Falcon and Toyota Camry have been big sellers in the 'Big Country', and  these three models have been the mainstay of the production industry for many years. Toyota has been big exporting their large car to the Middle East, GM less so and Ford hasn't bothered much at all, except for NZ.

Recently, big car sales have fallen as petrol prices rise and small cars get better at driving big distances. Ford has made an SUV (Territory -pic above) and Holden a small car (Cruze - pic below with Commodore) to compensate for the trend. However, the industry is propped up with government assistance, otherwise it would not be viable. The numbers of late have not been big enough, as the chart below of the past 15 years shows. Notice how the last few years have been below the average for the period. Mitsubishi gave up but the others hang in there.

Yr Total Holden Toyota Ford Mitsub
97 344,100 92,000 77,600 116,000 58,500
98 359,800 123,200 99,900 89,800 46,900
99 322,500 103,000 91,000 93,900 34,600
00 344,900 130,500 92,300 85,800 36,300
01 347,100 129,600 100,600 73,400 43,500
02 359,000 123,700 86,600 102,300 46,400
03 405,200 151,800 113,600 105,000 34,800
04 406,300 164,000 109,900 111,000 21,400
05 389,100 153,000 109,200 108,200 18,700
06 325,300 121,700 111,600 81,500 10,500
07 332,100 104,300 148,900 68,800 10,100
08 337,000 118,000 141,400 75,300 2,300
09 218,500 67,100 96,800 54,600 -
10 240,000 64,100 119,900 56,000 -
11 219,400 88,000 93,600 37,800 -
Tot 4,950,300 1,734,000 1,592,900 1,259,400 364,000
Avg 330,000 115,600 106,200 84,000 33,100

Please note: The Mitsubishi average does not include 2008, a run out figure anyway.

Unless production rises, it is hard to see how the industry can continue. Many Australians realise the cost of subsidising the car makers is not worth it, while there are those who want to see it continue for national pride's sake. Perhaps it's not for me to say either way, but the signs are not good.


Pics: http://www.caradvice.com.au

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