While Australian new car sales for 2014 (year-to-date) are down by 2%, September new car sales, thanks to SUV sales, rose by 2.5% compared with September 2013.
AUSTRALIANS BOUGHT MORE than 94,000 new cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles in September, an increase of 2.5% (0r 2316 units) compared with September 2013.
Releasing the September 2014 VFACTS figures, FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said sales continue to grow significantly in the SUV segment, with 14.6% more SUVs sold in last month than in September 2013. Light commercial vehicle sales rose 2.9%, while passenger car sales fell 4.1%.
“SUV sales have been strong in 2014, with year-to-date sales in the segment up 4.8 per cent compared to the same year-to-date period in 2013. In particular, the popularity of the small SUV segment continues to rise with sales for the month up 31.1 per cent compared to September 2013, and year-to-date sales up 17.4 per cent compared to the January to September 2013 period,” Mr Weber said.
“New car sales to the business community continue to fall in 2014, with business purchases in September down 3.8 per cent compared to September 2013. Private purchases increased 6.7% and government purchases increased 5.8%,” Mr Weber said.
Private purchases of SUVs and light commercial vehicles continue to rise, with private buyers purchasing 22 per cent more SUVs and 7.8% more light commercial vehicles in September 2014, compared to September 2013. Sales increased in most states and in both territories in September 2014, compared to September 2013. Australian Capital Territory sales increased by 4.9%, New South Wales by 5.9%, Northern Territory by 6.1%, Queensland by 2.1%, South Australia by 4.3% and Victoria by 0.9%. New car sales in Tasmania fell 5.5% and sales in Western Australia fell 2.7%.
The Mazda3 was the top selling vehicle in September 2014 with 4014 units sold, followed by the Toyota Corolla (3893), Toyota Hilux (3430), Holden Commodore (2616) and Hyundai i30 (2539). Toyota maintained the overall lead in market share for June 2014 (18.8%), followed by Mazda (10%), Hyundai (9.3%), Holden (9%) and Ford (6.6%).
