Strong new vehicle sales in June has seen Australia set a new half-yearly new vehicle sales result, hinting at a record 2016 for new car sales.
AUSTRALIANS purchased 128,569 new vehicles in June this year, which is a 2.2% increase on June 2015, with the end-of-financial-year realising 598,140 new vehicles to date – the record half-yearly result is a 3.4% increase on the same period last year.
Sales of SUVs continued to lead the charge, with sales up 8.9% on June 2015. And this growth was spearheaded by sales of small SUVs which realised an 18.2% increase on June results last year. Sales of passenger cars in general fell, while cab chassis and dual cab utes saw a 5.9% growth in sales on June 2015.
With the end in sight for production of the Ford Falcon, Toyota Camry and Holden Commodore, fleet buyers look to be on the hunt for replacement fleets with the sales of diesel SUVs to non-private buyers up by 37.6% on June 2015. Light commercial and SUV sales to business were up by 16.4 and 18.7 per cent respectively, compared with the same month last year.
FCAI Chief Executive, Tony Weber, said, “The end of the financial year historically is always very busy for the industry but this was an exceptional month. This time the final month of the financial year led right into a Federal election and yet despite some suggestions this may stifle consumer sentiment, the market continued its strong momentum”.
“Without any doubt this proves that competition is fierce, this is providing an important stimulative effect on our economy, and the current market environment is at its healthiest in decades by delivering affordable vehicles that are attractive to customers.
“Consumers are recognising the great value generated by this competition and have responded accordingly off the back of record low interest rates.”
The top five best-sellers in June were the Hyundai i30 (6432), followed by the Toyota Hilux (4613), Toyota Corolla (4427), Mazda3 (4112) and the Ford Ranger (4078). Toyota sold 22,083 cars in June realising a market dominant 17.2%, followed by Mazda (9.7%), Hyundai (9.6%), Holden (8.8%), and Mitsubishi (6.8%).
