The car brands hurting the most in 2024: Australia's new car market continues to be permanently altered by electrification and the biggest expansion of new players in its history

Australia’s car market is in a much better position than it was just a few years ago.

For most of the market things are looking up, with many COVID-derived supply-related woes in the history books and electrification plans well on track despite a global slow-down.

But the gains are certainly not spread evenly.

New rivals from China have upset the status quo, and automakers that once relied on older or higher-emitting vehicles are recoiling in the face of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard due to kick in next year.

We know the winners include new-age players like BYD (up 54.1 per cent), Chery (up 166.4 per cent), and GWM (up 22.7 per cent).

Legacy brands well-placed to deal with the current market forces like Toyota (up 31.5 per cent), Honda (up 28.8 per cent) and Suzuki (up 19 per cent) are also seeing success, but which brands are suffering the most? Let’s take a look.

Jeep (down 52 per cent)

Jeep is the mainstream brand suffering the most in 2024, having lost over half its sales since the same time last year.

Part of this is a repositioning of the brand, with the Grand Cherokee taking a huge price-hike for its new-generation.

Jeep also discontinued its mid-sized Cherokee and has pared back its now-slow-selling Wrangler range for its latest update. It appears the Gladiator and recently-updated Compass are also continually struggling to score sales against an increasing array of rivals.

No doubt this brand will be placing some degree of its future hopes on the diminutive shoulders of its incoming Avenger electric crossover.

RAM (down 50.8 per cent)

RAM’s comparatively impressive rise in Australia has been stifled - but not because buyers are turning away from American-sized pickups. The numbers show almost exactly the number of sales RAM is down have been taken up by Ford’s F-150 and GMSV’s Chevrolet Silverado. Perhaps there is a cap on demand for the ever growing ‘full-size pick-up’ segment after all.

Citroen (down 36.2 per cent)

Citroen’s situation appears dire, amassing just a handful of sales (74 units) so far in 2024. Its C3 hatchback, which never managed significant volumes, is now sold-out, leaving the C4 coupe SUV and C5 Aircross as its only two potential sellers.

The intriguing C5 X lifted station wagon, despite being critically well-received, hasn’t resonated with buyers and its incoming plug-in hybrid version has been relegated to a by-order basis and won’t appear in dealerships.

Renault (down 32.9 per cent)

Renault is still posting more impressive volumes than its two French rivals, Peugeot and Citroen, and its poor fortunes so far this year can be attributed to the brand being in the middle of a model switch-over.

Globally Renault looks to move to be a more electrified automaker.

The new-generation Captur is down an alarming 80 per cent, and its oddball Arkana coupe SUV has never been a particularly strong seller, while the surprisingly stubborn Koleos mid-sizer is now feeling quite out of date.

The Megane hatch which was previously whittled down to just performance variants, has been somewhat successfully replaced by the more competitive and electric-only Megane e-Tech. The brand’s commercial van range, including the Kangoo, Trafic, and Master continue to overperform for a niche brand.

Fiat (down 29.8 per cent)

Fiat’s passenger car range is now two versions of the one model - the 500 hatch - and the story of its sales decline is straightforward. The classic combustion engined version is now quite dated and has been whittled down to just one variant, which wasn’t as cheap as it once was. The new electric version has been repositioned into something significantly more upmarket.

Cupra (down 27.5 per cent)

Cupra recently told CarsGuide its significant sales slide thus far in 2024 can be explained by most of its models being in a “bit of a transitionary period” and supply thinning out of its current range before updates or replacements arrive in 2025.

Cupra is coming off of a meteoric rise as a brand new to our market with virtually no brand awareness, so it’s done well to even be where it is.

Next year its range will also expand to include new variants of existing nameplates, alongside its brand new electric Tavascan and combustion Terramar SUVs.

Mini (down 26.2 per cent)

Like Cupra, Mini is smack bang in the middle of refreshing its entire line-up, almost all at once. The dated Countryman has just been replaced by an all-new version, while the new versions of the three-door and five-door Cooper hatch aren’t set to be online until later this year.

Mini’s range is also set to expand with the arrival of the Aceman electric-only city car before the end of the year.

Skoda (down 25.7 per cent)

Skoda has had a rough time of it in recent years in Australia, with thin supply during covid and now the brand is facing down new rivals with a dated range of vehicles.

This slow period looks to be corrected by the brand in 2025 as it prepares to offer new-generation versions of its strong-selling Kodiaq and Octavia sedan and its first electric car, the Enyaq SUV.

Volvo (down 24.6 per cent)

Volvo’s entire range (bar the S60 sedan that just received a special edition) is down for the year, including its once enormously popular XC40 small SUV range. Its ageing XC90 is set to be replaced by the all-electric EX90 and no doubt some of its XC40 sales have been diverted to the new and very competitive EX30 crossover.

Things might get worse before they get better for Volvo as it is yet to replace the ageing XC60 as well as the S60 and V60 as part of its phase-out of combustion nameplates and a switch to electric-only by 2026.

A Volvo spokesperson explained the brand is coming off the back of a period of significant increases and certain stock is running down before it is replaced by either a MY25 version or changed out for a new all-electric version. The brand expects better numbers in the second half of the year as its keenly-priced EX30 comes online.

Mercedes-Benz (down 24.1 per cent)

Mercedes-Benz has taken something of a battering across nearly its whole range thus far in 2024. A lot of this may be attributed to new models, like the C-Class and E-Class sedans, and even the EQA and EQB, having trimmed-down variant line-ups, some of which containing notable price-hikes, although uptake has also been slow for its controversially-styled EQE and EQS electric cars.

LDV (down 21.8 per cent)

LDV’s range of popular low-cost alternative commercial vehicles has now aged significantly, with the biggest sellers: the G10 van, T60 Max ute and D90 seven-seat SUV posting significant year-on-year drops.

In the case of the all-important T60 Max ute, it’s now facing significant competition from GWM, SsangYong and Mitsubishi’s new Triton, and despite a slew of updates for its new ‘Plus’ variant, it might take a new generation (dubbed the GST) to reverse the slide.

Genesis (down 18.5 per cent)

Genesis has always had a task in front of it in challenging the very entrenched German automakers, presenting itself as a legitimate Korean alternative to Japan’s Lexus, which itself has had a hard-earned reputation off the back of a 20-year uphill battle.

The Korean luxury automaker’s entire range has been down for the year off the back of some range-expansion-related growth in previous years. It will also face new challenges in the second half of 2024 as new sports luxury challengers like Xpeng from China and Cadillac enter the fray.

Justin Douglass, Head of Genesis Australia told CarsGuide the brand's 2023 numbers were "supported from a backlog of orders accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic and the semiconductor shortage", and that actual orders (yet to be converted to deliveries) placed with the brand were up 20 per cent year-on-year in 2024.