Australian new car sales fell 8.1% in May compared to the same month last year (2018) leading to an overall decline of the new car market for the first five months of 2019.

Australian new car sales continue to fall with sales in May down 8.1% compared with the same month last year, according to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).

New car sales in May hit 92,561 which is down by 7497 vehicles (8.1%) compared with May 2018. And, to date new vehicle sales totalled 436,649 which is down from 475,222 for the same period in 2018 and, again, represents a decrease of 8.1%.

Tony Weber, chief executive at the FCAI, said “The Australian market has seen the same trend throughout 2019, resulting in an overall decrease of around eight per cent for the first five months of the year.

“We have attributed this trend to known market factors such as an economic downturn, drought, political events, the tightening of financial lending and lack of confidence in the market. 

“Now that the Federal election has been finalised, we are optimistic that the market will improve over the next few months,” Weber said.

The market leader in May was Toyota, with 18,820 sales, followed by Mazda with 8578 sales, Hyundai which recorded 8106 sales, Ford 5788 and Kia 5533.

The two top selling vehicles for the month were Light Commercial vehicles the Toyota Hi-Lux (4206 sales) and the Ford Ranger (3972 sales).  In third place was the Toyota RAV4 (2917 sales – growth of more than 40% compared with sales in May 2018) and in fourth place was the Hyundai i30 (2901 sales).

As you can see below, Toyota continues to hold the lion share of sales year-to-date with Mitsubishi only just ahead of Hyundai. And while Ford sales have cooled, the Blue Oval is in a much better place than Holden which has slipped to ninth place.