Monday, Nov 18, 2013 at 13:26
The Amarok has been on sale since early 2011. That's 2 1/2 years to make a big dent in the huge light commercial market in
Australia. This market is the biggest boom market behind SUV's at present.
Amarok roared onto the scene, talking about "Dakar winner", "proven in Sth Africa", "built with legendary German strength/quality/features", etc etc - but after more than 2 1/2 years, Amarok sales are running at less than 600 a month, and struggling to increase that monthly sales figure.
You have to ask why. If they are the ultimate light commercial, as VW would have us believe, wouldn't they now be selling 2000 units a month, and wouldn't there be a major wait list??
Hiluxes are still top of the wozza at around 3300 units a month (admittedly, Toyota chase the fleet and mining markets. However, VW can't seem to break into these markets. Could there be a reason for this? Would it be "total cost of ownership"?).
Navaras are selling at around 2000 units a month and the Triton is right up there with the Navara at around 1970 units a month.
Nissans are pushing 0.9% interest deals and Tritons have a major price advantage over all the commercials, so I guess these are factors in these two models sales figures.
Holden Colorado is running around 1700 units a month, a good figure for any light commercial, and this is probably because of Holdens backing, with service, warranty and parts availability.
The Isuzu D-Max is running at around 900 units a month, and this is still 50% better than the Amarok - however, the lack of Isuzu dealerships must play a part here. The "truckiness" of the Isuzu is what loses it sales, I don't think the vehicle is any less worthy than the top sellers.
The Amarok wins on ride and interior comfort, quietness (lots of insulation), looks, and a reputedly-better fuel economy from the smallest engine of any of the light commercials.
However, I come from the "no replacement for displacement" mob - and one thing I've found, with a small capacity diesel, is that they provide good fuel economy under light load - but push them hard, and fuel economy will be as bad as a engine twice its size.
In addition, VW customer service has been appalling - and parts and service costs, and overall robustness and reliability of the Amarok, long term, are still suspect. No-one has had an Amarok "in the field" for 5 yrs yet, doing "hard yakka".
One much-vaunted motoring report had a "long-term test" of an Amarok - they got it with 700kms on the clock, and returned it with 3000kms on the clock, after touring around the suburbs with the family on board. What a joke.
My experience with European vehicles is that their parts costs are substantially more than any other vehicle from other countries - that many European designs of their small, important components, are infuriatingly cheap and "plasticky" (remotes that fall apart, levers and switches that break regularly, plastic radiator tanks that have outlets break off, and way too many other annoying weaknesses) - and all these combine to make "total cost of ownership" over an extended period of time, considerably more than other brands.
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Follow Up By: rocco2010 - Monday, Nov 18, 2013 at 16:23
Monday, Nov 18, 2013 at 16:23
Ron
You obviously have industry info. What are sales figures for Ranger and BT50?
Cheers
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Follow Up By: Ron N - Monday, Nov 18, 2013 at 17:13
Monday, Nov 18, 2013 at 17:13
Rocco, sorry, I forgot to include the figures for the Ranger and BT-50.
Sales for the Ranger have been gradually increasing on a monthly basis through the year, from just over 1700 units in May, for example, to 2027 units sold in October 2013. However, the increase may be related to improved supplies of the model in recent times,as compared to earlier in the year.
The Mazda BT-50 is struggling to get above 1300 units a month, with about 1250 the average. They have a big celebration every time they crack 1300 units a month.
No-one I know likes the BT-50 styling - there's nothing you can say for it, its just plain fugly - and this seems to be reflected in the sales level.
Mazda are just content to crow about the fact they are soundly beating their 2012 BT-50 sales levels, which averaged 987 units a month over the whole of 2012.
The Labor Govts announcement of the removal of the FBT tax on vehicles sent the fleet and business vehicle sales into a tailspin, with about a 6% overall drop in sales - and light commercials were badly affected.
The Abbot Govt has been slow to make it clear they wouldn't proceed with the Labor FBT proposal.
Surprisingly, private purchases almost made up for the FBT fiasco, with a 4% increase in private sales overall, thus saving the day for the car industry.
Overall, annual vehicle sales are heading for another record year, so things can't be all that bad.
Cheers, Ron
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Follow Up By: NTVRX - Wednesday, Nov 20, 2013 at 09:32
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2013 at 09:32
Ford Ranger/Mazda BT 50 won RACV award.....how many units a month are selling?
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Follow Up By: AlbyNSW - Wednesday, Nov 20, 2013 at 10:20
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2013 at 10:20
Interesting read, thanks Ron.
I am surprised that the Amarock figures are so low and given all the talk of how far behind the 8 ball the Hilux is and that they are losing sales in the mines to other variants that their figures are still holding well which must be very annoying to the other brands.
I was speaking with aToyota fleet sales person about the Hilux and asked if the Ford Ranger was giving them grief but she said the one that they seem to come up against teh most is teh Amarok, go figure.
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