Australian new car sales slowed in June compared to the same period last year, dropping 2.9%…light commercials top-three best-sellers in June.

WITH JUNE BEING the end of the financial year it seems tradies were rushing to make the most of tax savings with the three best-selling vehicles in June being light commercials. Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton took gold, silver and bronze.

Total sales last month were 130,300, compared with last year’s June record of 134,171.

The year-to-date 2018 results show the total vehicle market still running at 1 per cent higher than the first six months of 2017.

The biggest loser in June was the passenger car segment which continues to decline, down 17.9% compared with the same month in 2017. Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) continued to strengthen increasing by 9.3% over June 2017. Light commercials were relatively steady in June with a 0.3 per cent increase over June 2017.

SUVs held a dominant 43.1% share of the June market (small SUVs rose 32.2%, and medium SUVs by 7.3%), with the passenger car share at 31.9 per cent, and light commercials at 21.8%.

Among the passenger cars, the micro segment was the only one to show an increase, jumping by 58.9%.

The five top-sellers for June were the Toyota Hilux (5787), Ford Ranger (4768), Mitsubishi Triton (3919), Toyota Corolla (3780) and Hyundai i30 (3547). Toyota led the market with a 17.8% share, followed by Mazda (9.6%), Hyundai (8.0%), Mitsubishi (7.9%), and Ford (5.7%).