Australian new car sales rise 3.4% in October – Toyota HiLux best seller
Australian new car sales rose 3.4% in October with 94,321 new passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles finding driveways to call home.
AUSTRALIAN NEW CAR sales were up 3.4% in October against the same month in 2014. And, year-to-date sales are up by 3.6% on 2014 figures, with 957,153 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles sold to date. New car sales are expected to top 1.1 million sales for the year.
The drive in sales in October, pardon the pun, was from the SUV segment which saw a massive 20.4% increase in sales compared with October 2014. And between January and October this year SUV sales are up by 15.9% compared to the same period last year.
Of the SUV segment, it was small SUV sales, in particular, that drove the category increasing 37%, medium SUV sales increased 20.1% and large SUV sales increased 11.8%. While the SUV segment might be the fastest growing, passenger cars still account for 43.3% of the new car market. SUVs currently hold 35.% of the market.
Last month (October) the Toyota HiLux took out the top spot as best-selling vehicle with 3339 sales, no doubt helped by aggressive discounting on the run-out model and forward orders for the new model which was launched last month. Toyota stablemate, Corolla finished in second with 3271 sales, then Hyundai i30 with 2669, Ford Ranger on 2597, and Mazda3 2582.
Toyota was the highest selling brand in October, with 18% of the market. Toyota was followed by Hyundai with 9.5%, Mazda with 9%, Holden with 8.6% and Ford with 6.5%.
