With SUV sales now ahead of conventional passenger cars – sedans, hatches, wagons, people-movers, convertibles and coupes – it’s never been more important to be strong at this end of the market.
Australians have purchased a record 692,000 new vehicles this year, 270,477 of which are SUVs. This compares to 266,059 passenger cars and 155,770 commercials – utes, vans and trucks.
In an overall new vehicle market up 0.4 per cent (below the rate of population growth), SUV sales are up 5.6 per cent, spread across 33 active brands overall.
Industry sales figures (VFACTS) break the SUV market into four main segments based on wheelbase: Small, Medium, Large and Upper Large.
Medium SUVs (led by the Mazda CX-5) account for about 42 per cent of total SUV sales, ahead of Large SUVs (31 per cent), Small SUVs (24 per cent) and Upper Large SUVs (just over 3 per cent).
What’s interesting is that, while overall market leaders Toyota and Mazda likewise lead SUV sales, there’s a different order beyond this. Nissan and Mitsubishi are strong, Holden and Ford are weak, for instance.
SUV market leaders by segment
| SEGMENT | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
| Small < $40k | Mazda CX-3 – 10,686 | Mitsu ASX – 10,583 | Nissan Qashqai – 7712 |
| Small > $40k | BMW X1 – 2374 | Audi Q3 – 2133 | Mercedes GLA – 1744 |
| Medium < $60k | Mazda CX-5 – 15,229 | Hyundai Tucson – 14,555 | Toyota RAV4 – 12,547 |
| Medium > $60k | LR Disco Sport – 2876 | BMW X3 – 2073 | Mercedes GLC – 2070 |
| Large < $70k | Toyota Prado – 9874 | Subaru Outback – 7132 | Toyota Kluger – 6983 |
| Large > $70k | BMW X5 – 2228 | R’ Rover Sport – 1833 | Audi Q7 – 1735 |
| Upper < $100k | LandCruiser – 7492 | Nissan Patrol – 612 | – |
| Upper > $100k | Mercedes GLS – 629 | Range Rover – 279 | Lexus LX – 204 |
SUV market leaders by brand
|
BRAND |
SUV Sales YTD 2017 |
Change over 2016 |
|
Toyota |
41,144 |
up 9.4 per cent |
|
Mazda |
31,491 |
up 17.5 per cent |
|
Mitsubishi |
26,625 |
up 18.8 per cent |
|
Nissan |
23,577 |
up 0.1 per cent |
|
Hyundai |
20,023 |
up 24 per cent |
|
Subaru |
19,266 |
down 2.6 per cent |
|
Holden |
12,266 |
down 4.7 per cent |
|
Kia |
11,346 |
up 3.2 per cent |
|
Honda |
11,001 |
down 9.3 per cent |
|
Ford |
8196 |
down 20.7 per cent |
|
BMW |
7997 |
down 10.2 per cent |
|
Volkswagen |
7803 |
up 65.4 per cent |
|
Land Rover |
7421 |
down 13 per cent |
|
Mercedes-Benz |
7086 |
down 10.2 per cent |
|
Audi |
6199 |
down 0.5 per cent |
|
Suzuki |
6134 |
up 16.9 per cent |
|
Jeep |
5075 |
down 34.8 per cent |
|
Isuzu Ute |
4397 |
up 9.7 per cent |
|
Lexus |
3380 |
up 1.4 per cent |
|
Porsche |
2482 |
up 6.1 per cent |
|
Renault |
1900 |
up 18.5 per cent |
|
Volvo Car |
1762 |
down 17.6 per cent |
|
Jaguar |
880 |
up 935.3 per cent |
|
Fiat |
589 |
down 9.2 per cent |
|
Peugeot |
454 |
down 39.1 per cent |
|
Skoda |
410 |
down 32.8 per cent |
|
Haval |
406 |
– |
|
Mini |
377 |
up 27.4 per cent |
|
Infiniti |
306 |
up 109.6 per cent |
|
Maserati |
288 |
– |
|
MG |
52 |
– |
|
SsangYong* |
48 |
down 67.6 per cent |
|
Citroen |
46 |
down 64.3 per cent |
|
Bentley |
41 |
up 141.2 per cent |
|
Chery* |
5 |
up 150 per cent |
|
Dodge* |
4 |
down 98.6 per cent |
* Discontinued brands
Any sales figures not mentioned here that you want to know? Ask away, in the comments.
MORE: VFACTS car sales news stories
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