Australian new car sales figures released for July suggest the country is heading for another record-breaking year with current sales up 2.8% on the same period last year.
SALES OF NEW CARS in Australia are booming with sales for the first seven months this year up on the same period last year by 2.8%. And last month realised the second-best July on record with sales of 91,331 new vehicles.
The July sales, give a year-to-date total of 689,471, which is a 2.8% increase on the first seven months of 2015. July also saw the first time in Australian car sales history that Thailand became the number one supplying country for new vehicles.
July also continued the shift away from passenger vehicles towards SUVs and light commercials. “In July, passenger cars accounted for 41.6% of the market, compared with 44.9% for the same month last year. SUVs in July accounted for a 37% share of the total market, and light commercials, also on the rise, 18.5%,” the FCAI said in a statement.
That said, small passenger cars were the most dominant segment with 16,787 sales during July with medium and large SUVs the next largest segments, with 12,716 and 11,264 sales respectively.
SUV sales rose by 3.5% in July compared with the same month last year, and this segment’s year-to-date sales for 2016 are up 10.3%.
Toyota continued to lead the market in July, posting 17,465 sales for a 19.1% share. It was followed by Mazda with 8460 sales (9.3% share), Hyundai with 7603 (8.3%), Holden 7071 (7.7%) and Ford in fifth place with 6894 sales (7.5%).
