Australian new car sales have continued to fall with a decline in June (2019) of 9.6 percent compared with the same month last year (2018).

Australian new car sales have fallen for the sixth consecutive month this year with the figures released today from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) showing a decline of 9.6 percent in June (2019). Total sales for the month were 117,817 units (down 12,483 units compared with June 2018) with year to date sales totalling 554,466 units. So far, sales this year are trending down not just on 2018 but also 2017 results.

But it’s when you start drilling into the segments you realise that passenger vehicle sales are where the softening is occurring at its highest levels. When compared to June 2018, Passenger Vehicle sales in June 2019 totalled 33,864, a decrease of 18.5 percent across the segment. SUV sales totalled 53,509, a decrease of 4.7 percent, and Light Commercial Vehicles totalled 26,372, a decrease of 7.0 percent.

Releasing the figures, Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, said, “Over the past six months we have seen various conditions and circumstances which adversely affected the market. These include a tightening of financial lending, environmental factors such as drought and flood, and a strongly contested federal election.

“In addition, the continuing incursion of Luxury Car Tax on a federal level, and now in some cases on a state level as well, is a major disincentive. It could just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for the new car buyer,” Weber said.

The most popular vehicle was the Toyota HiLux with 5396 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger with 4851 sales, in third place was the Hyundai i30 with 3343 sales, Toyota Corolla sat in fourth spot with 3137 sales, Mazda CX-5 followed with 2911 sales, Kia Cerato realised 2832 sales, Mitsubishi Triton found 2695 homes, Mazda3 managed 2533 sales, Toyota RAV4 realised 2449 sales and Toyota LandCruiser had 2360 sales.

The market leader in June was Toyota with 21,200 sales, followed by Mazda (10,806), Hyundai (10,001), Mitsubishi (8891), and Kia (7200).

In terms of overall performance year to date, Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Ford made up the top five, with Kia, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda and Holden rounding out the top 10.