https://www.motoring.com.au/november...-again-121898/
GM surrenders 10th spot on sales ladder to Subaru, as local MD departs
Sales figures to be released on Wednesday are expected to show Holden, once Australia’s most popular brand, has dropped to 11th place in sales for the month of November.
It’s not the first time this year the GM brand has fallen out of the top 10 brands, but it is a sign that Holden is headed for a permanent position (year to date) outside that important brand collective.
Furthermore, the company’s woes are compounded by the departure of MD David Buttner, who has been in the role for less than 18 months and was the former sales and marketing boss at Toyota before that.
Holden’s sales for November reportedly fell below 3000 units, leaving it vulnerable to a leapfrog manoeuvre by Subaru – itself recording a lower sales tally in November, year on year. Subaru’s 20 per cent decline for the month, year on year, was not in the same league as Holden’s 48 per cent shortfall.
None of the mainstream automotive brands enjoyed year-on-year sales gains last month, the one exception being Kia, which occupies 5th spot for the month.
Holden has narrowly fallen short of 40,000 sales for 2019, as of the end of November. That is likely to result in a full-year sales total of around 43,000 units, depending on Holden’s retail performance in December.
What this figure spells for the company’s future remains uncertain. It’s a far cry from the company’s achievement as the top-selling brand 20 years ago, when it sold nearly 150,000 vehicles in the one year, 1999.
It’s anticipated that official VFACTS figures will reveal that the whole market for November declined by around 10,000 sales, year on year – for a total of barely 80,000 vehicles for the month.
Megalithic brand Toyota continues to hold top spot, for the month and the year to date, but November sales are down around 1300 vehicles. Hyundai has moved into second place for the month, despite sales for November falling 1000 vehicles short of the figure for November 2018.
Mitsubishi has occupied third place in November, just a handful of vehicles behind Hyundai, but still around 130 fewer than November last year.
Mazda is in fourth, selling roughly 2700 fewer vehicles last month than 12 months earlier. Kia is looking unstoppable in fifth, up around 500 more sales for the month, year on year.
Ford is in sixth (down around 550 sales) and Nissan is in seventh (down over 1000 sales). Volkswagen (eighth) has lost nearly 800 sales, year on year, and Honda (ninth) has fallen back by around 450 sales for the month.
Subaru rounds out the top 10 in November, but with sales roughly 800 units in arrears.
Toyota’s HiLux is expected to retain its mantle of top-selling vehicle in Australia, with a November sales figure of around 3700 units.