October 2011 sales

[Bossxr8]

The Caprice PPV must be really ramping up, they must be getting up into the stratosphere of 5 or 6 cars a day.

I can't figure out where the tens of thousands of them they were going to sell have ended up. I better ring Paul Gover and ask him.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

The latest photo on Nearmap is 17 October and reveals probably 1500 cars parked up at the Elizabeth plant. Conservative estimate.

Ah, thank you.
10,000 builds last month, only 6600 aussie sales,
roughly 1500 stock, the rest must be off shore...

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Ah, thank you.
10,000 builds last month, only 6600 aussie sales,
roughly 1500 stock, the rest must be off shore...

One thing I will say after looking at the photos (going back a few months) is that the stock at the plant appears to be building up.

[bobthebilda]

You got to remember, Holden has approx. 300 dealerships in Australia and New Zealand. Go to some of the larger dealerships and you will often see 30 or more commodores sitting out the back (plus whats sitting on the show room floor). You could hide 10,000 (3 months supply) commodores just in the supply chain.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

You got to remember, Holden has approx. 300 dealerships in Australia and New Zealand. Go to some of the larger dealerships and you will often see 30 or more commodores sitting out the back (plus whats sitting on the show room floor). You could hide 10,000 (3 months supply) commodores just in the supply chain.

Most big dealers have near 200 when you add Commodore sedan wagon, caprice, ute. Theres still 2010 plates laying around some..

[Falc'man]

None of the above surprises me as Holden did say they'd go to unusual lengths to maintain top spot. Good luck to them. I just hope they don't end up wroughting the taxpayers like their parents did.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by prydey

hands up how many people have bought something based on what they saw on a tv commercial. how many people actually take notice of commercials. when commercials come on, most people zone out for a few minutes. take the opportunity to get up and make a coffee/tend to kids/make a quick call etc etc so they don't miss their show.

of all the cars that are above falcon on the sales chart, how many of those sales are thanks to tv advertising? i can only speak for my area but i rarely see ads for any of them, including commodore and cruze. maybe i just don't watch tv at the right times.

every month its the same old dribble on here. the marketing is useless, the car is useless, ford don't make what people want, blah blah blah.

sometimes it just is what it is. ford aus probably expected 2011 to continue to be a pretty lean year. i would imagine they would hope for an improve in the next 12 months with all their projects coming online in that period. do they expect them to go gangbusters the minute they hit the showroom floors? AFF members certainly expect them to.

good point bro but its simple...how many times are you flicking thru the adds and a car add comes on...you go oow ill look at that...the wife is grabbed by the add selling linnen and flowers and art... and the kids see the music sta adds.....its all a big pshycology thing and id be verrry suprized if they didnt use pshycologists for add campaining ideas thesedays

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

its all a big pshycology thing and id be verrry suprized if they didnt use pshycologists for add campaining ideas thesedays

There are more psychologists employed in the advertising industry than in health care...

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Ah, thank you.
10,000 builds last month, only 6600 aussie sales,
roughly 1500 stock, the rest must be off shore...

Now we know that Brazil took only 600 last year (so that's what, 50 per month?!) and 150 Commodores went to the Middle East market, and 4000 Caprices. That does not paint a good picture as far as excess stock goes.

Assuming those export numbers are still the same (which they won't be if that Carpoint article is anything to go by), they have another 1800-1900 vehicles floating around somewhere - from just one month.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Now we know that Brazil took only 600 last year (so that's what, 50 per month?!) and 150 Commodores went to the Middle East market, and 4000 Caprices. That does not paint a good picture as far as excess stock goes.

Assuming those export numbers are still the same (which they won't be if that Carpoint article is anything to go by), they have another 1800-1900 vehicles floating around somewhere - from just one month.

Caprice PPV is an unwanted car and it's just a matter of time until Holden admits what everyone else knows.......

[vztrt]

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25794800145A1C

Market Insight: Holden Commodore defends its turf

Holden large car hangs onto top sales spot in Australia as challengers circle

14 November 2011

By DAVID HASSALL

THE prize fight for bragging rights as the top-selling vehicle in Australia has turned into a fascinating contest in 2011, with five serious contenders shaping up for the crown in the last two months of the year.

Although battered and bruised, the reigning champion – and undefeated for the past 15 years – is up against the ropes defending against at least one smaller and faster challenger, but the home-bred slugger will not go down without a mighty fight.

Holden’s venerable Commodore may have a glass jaw – in this case, Australia’s fading love affair with large cars – but in its corner is a proud and powerful marketing machine that will not countenance defeat until the final scores are posted in the first week of January.

Like the recently departed ‘Smokin’ Joe’ Frazier, though, the Commodore’s days are surely numbered.

The upstart Mazda3 was carried into this contest by private buyers and is the most likely candidate to land the winning punch, but there are other contenders with a shot at the title – including two veterans from the powerful Toyota camp, the ever-consistent HiLux and Corolla.

And we cannot forget the fast-developing newcomer – Holden’s own Cruze small car – which may be giving its big brother a start, but goes into the final two months of the showdown with the advantage of finally getting a popular hatchback variant from this month.

Korea’s leading contender, the Hyundai i30, is coming from too far back and looks set to finish as ‘best of the rest’ ahead of the Nissan Navara twins, the ageing Toyota Camry, the explosive Volkswagen Golf and the tragic figure of the once mighty Ford Falcon.

Ironically, Holden’s chances of hanging on to the 2011 sales title could be assisted, at least subconsciously, by its challengers.

Mazda Australia for one is reluctant to be branded as the company that toppled the great Aussie champion, fearing potential media and consumer backlash. This is a bout it would probably prefer to lose.

“You wouldn’t want to be the one that brought down such an Australian icon, would you?” a Mazda Australia insider once confided. “At least, we wouldn’t.”

Commodore (down 8.9 per cent YTD) has won five of the 10 rounds held so far this year. After its usual slow start in January – when fleet buyers are still lying on the beach – the big Holden topped the sales charts in February, March, April and May, then again in July.

Finishing second three more times before inexplicably dropping to fourth in October (down 20.3 per cent despite the launch of a model upgrade and extra-value pricing) consistency has been the Commodore’s strength this year and sees it clinging on to top place year-to-date by just 371 units – 34,990 sales to 34,624 for the Mazda3 (up 6.2 per cent YTD).

Mazda’s top-selling model has had a rollercoaster year, dipping slightly in the wake of the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan before bouncing back strongly through winter – winning the sales race with industry-best scores of 4212 in June and 4234 in August – as dealers cleared run-out stock.

The facelifted Mazda3 lobbed at the end of September, along with lower prices and extra equipment, but even a 24.6 per cent lift in October over the same month in 2010 could not prevent it being beaten for the month by the resurgent Toyota Corolla and HiLux.

Corolla has been the hardest hit by the Japanese natural disaster of the top model contenders and is down 10.6 per cent YTD. Having won the opening round in January, Corolla supplies dried up quickly following the March earthquake, dropping the popular small car well behind its main rivals from April all the way through to July as Toyota’s anticipated production rebound failed to materialise.

Once production did recover – and Toyota Australia launched into a two-month ‘Toyotathon’ sales attack – Corolla soared back into contention, winning both September (up 13.6 per cent) and October (up 28.2 per cent) to sneak back ahead of Cruze for fourth place YTD (28,737 to 28,608). And that might be as high as it gets at the end of the year.

Toyota stablemate HiLux, which has consistently dominated the ute market and went close – just 142 sales – to unseating the Commodore back in March, seemingly has too much ground to make up before the final bell rings on December 31, having posted 31,168 sales YTD (down 5.9 per cent despite an increase of 16.0 per cent in October).

While HiLux avoided the tsunami fallout because it is sourced from Thailand, the savage October floods that have almost stalled production of all the Thai-built SUVs will almost certainly end the charge of Toyota’s second challenger. Not so long ago it seemed that all the cards fell Toyota’s way.

And that leaves the great white hope – Holden’s Cruze small car (up 21.6 per cent YTD after a 31.4 per cent rise last month). As well as being swept along by the trend to small cars, the recent launch of the locally designed hatchback version will surely add to the sales momentum built up by Cruze, despite being available only in supposedly less-popular sedan form all year.

It may be too late for Cruze to come from fifth place YTD to challenge Commodore and Mazda3 for the 2011 crown, but look out for a big challenge when the challengers step up for the 2012 showdown.

If Commodore manages to hang onto its sales crown this year, there are many who believe that the David to finally fell Goliath in 2012 will be Holden’s own Cruze rather than the Japanese Mazda3.

Even Mazda’s corner workers may be relieved if that’s how this bloody battle ultimately pans out.

Top-selling models Jan - Oct 2011
Holden Commodore 34,995
Mazda3 34,624
Toyota HiLux 31,168
Toyota Corolla 28,737
Holden Cruze 28,608
Hyundai i30 24,853
Nissan Navara 18,476
Toyota Camry 16,659
Volkswagen Golf 16,606
Ford Falcon 15,882

[b0son]

For all the road death stats, etc, camry sales numbers are the most depressing statistic of all.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by b0son

For all the road death stats, etc, camry sales numbers are the most depressing statistic of all.

Why? Its one of the few Australian made cars, its production in Victoria directly or indirectly keeps thousands of Australians employed. It is also a massive export earner for this country, helping with our balance of trade.

[jpd80]

All the local manufacturers have slightly different products intended to
spread their nets wide enough to capture different parts of the market.

[naddis01]

Mazda 3 is the only one that has a chance of beating Commodore. They are dreaming if they think Hilux, Rolla or Cruze have a chance this year.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by b0son

For all the road death stats, etc, camry sales numbers are the most depressing statistic of all.

Maybe this will put paid to that:

http://www.news.com.au/business/toyo...-1226194660149

The recall also includes the Kluger.

Interesting that VAG will overtake Toyota in global sales this year.