Australian new car sales are up 6.1% for the first two months of the year compared with the same time last year.

SUVs continued to lead the new car sales charge in February with more than 41% of the market; passenger cars accounted for 35.9% while the remainder was light commercial sales. Small SUVs climbed 21.4% compared with February 2017, mediums SUVs by 17.1% and upper large by 12.9%.

New vehicle sales in February totalled 95,999 which was an increase of 7.8% over February last year and lifted the 2018 year-to-date cumulative total to 184,550.

Toyota was the market leader for February with a 19% share, followed by Mazda with 10.3%, Hyundai with 8.3%, Mitsubishi 7.4% and Ford 6.3%.

The Toyota Hilux maintained its top-seller position in February with 4426 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger (3544 sales), Toyota Corolla (3270), Mazda3 (2935) and the Mazda CX-5 (2191).