How the car market has changed 2011-2021

The pace of change is always rising, and new technologies come thick and fast.

But if we step back a bit and look at the Australian new vehicle sales figures from a decade ago and compare them to today, just how different do the two periods look?

What sort of vehicles have Australians fallen for, and abandoned? What are the defining cars, brands and segments of each year? All up, what’s changed?

The VFACTS market sales database distributed by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries lets us look at some numbers from then and now. Such as:

How the car market has changed 2011-2021 — **Number two then**

Overall sales

To the end of September 2021, Australian new vehicle sales sit at 816,140. By contrast, sales over the same January to September period in 2011 were 752,128 sales – 8.5 per cent lower.

But this figure is the result of many variables and doesn’t mean much. What’s more interesting is how the market make-up has changed at the next level down.

Brands lost and gained

Brands that were on sale then and aren’t now include Chery, Dodge, Holden, Hummer, Proton, Saab, and Smart. New entrants are Chevrolet, Genesis, Haval, LDV, MG, Ram Trucks, and Tesla.

Passenger cars

Then, 55.7 per cent of sales were classified Passenger Cars (hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, coupes, convertibles, and people-movers). In 2021 their share has plummeted to 21.4 per cent.

The biggest loser was, of course, the Large Car segment occupied by the defunct Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.

In 2011 Large Cars owned 8.1 per cent share (and falling), whereas today the segment sits at a paltry 0.5 per cent.

The other major change is at the cheaper end, which is being eroded by SUVs and used car sales (prices of which are at all-time highs).

In 2011 Light Cars such as the Mazda 2 and Toyota Yaris had 13.3 per cent market share while today that figure including the Micro Car segment sits at 5.2 per cent.

Small Cars such as the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla were dominant in 2011 with 24.1 per cent overall market share, whereas today this figure is just 10.7 per cent.

SUVs

In 2011 the market share of SUVs was 23.6 per cent and growing, whereas in 2021 this figure has rocketed to 51.0 per cent.

Australians sure have fallen head over heels for SUVs in the interim, with more options falling under this classification and manufacturers all too eager to cash in.

In 2011 there were 70 different SUV models produced by 28 brands. In 2021 there are 127 SUV models to choose from made by 38 brands.

The single Compact SUV segment in 2011 had 11.8 per cent share of the market.

Today this one segment has branched into sub-classifications called Light SUV, Small SUV and Medium SUV, which combined have 35.9 per cent share.

Light commercials:

Light commercial utes and vans have gone from 18.0 per cent in 2011 to 23.7 per cent in 2021.

Particularly successful today are dual-cab 4×4 utes, which have become the two top-selling vehicles overall (Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux), and which are now genuinely enthusiast-focused at the top end.

Overall market share of 4×4 utes has grown from 10 per cent to 18 per cent over the decade.

Brands

In 2011, the top 10 brands and their respective sales were:

Toyota: 131,371 sales
Holden: 95,932 sales
Ford: 69,495 sales
Mazda: 65,955 sales
Hyundai: 65,129 sales
Nissan: 50,659 sales
Mitsubishi: 46,107 sales
Volkswagen: 32,153 sales
Subaru: 26,874 sales
Honda 23,490 sales

In 2021, the top 10 brands and their respective sales are:

Toyota: 176,771 sales
Mazda: 83,565 sales
Ford: 54,269 sales
Hyundai: 54,169 sales
Kia: 53,316 sales
Mitsubishi: 52,152 aales
Volkswagen: 32,315
Nissan: 31,652
MG: 28,878
Subaru: 28,763

Which means over the period we’ve seen Holden and Honda out of the top 10, and Kia and MG power in. If we track the movement of some major brands over the period from 2011 to 2021 it looks like this:

	2011	2021	Change %
Audi	11,304	12,651	Up 11.9%
BMW	12,809	18,965	Up 48.1%
Ford	69,495	54,269	Down 21.9%
Great Wall	6136	13,200	Up 115.1%
Honda	23,490	13,460	Down 42.7%
Hyundai	65,129	54,169	Down 16.8%
Isuzu Ute	4672	28,437	Up 508.7%
Jeep	5990	5976	Down 0.2%
Kia	19,025	53,316	Up 180.2%
Land Rover	4403	5,693	Up 29.3%
Lexus	4498	7455	Up 65.7%
Mazda	65,955	83,565	Up 26.7%
Merc-Benz	15,614	26,182	Up 67.7%
Mitsubishi	46,107	52,152	Up 13.1%
Nissan	50,659	31,652	Down 37.5%
Skoda	1839	7745	Up 321.2%
Subaru	26,874	28,763	Up 7.0%
Suzuki	18,188	13,314	Down 27.0%
Toyota	131,371	176,771	Up 34.5%
Volkswagen	32,153	32,315	Up 0.5%
Volvo	3969	7339	Up 84.9%