Records tumble in boom year for new vehicle sales
It’s official. 2003 was the strongest year for the new vehicle industry since 1990. Figures just released by the Land
Transport Safety Authority show that a total of 91,964 new vehicles were registered in 2003, an increase of 9.6% on the
2002 total.
A booming December saw 6065 new cars registered, the biggest December for 22 years, taking the full year tally for new
cars to 70,453 - the first time 70,000 has been exceeded since 1990. Commercial vehicle sales at 21,511 set an even more
impressive record – it was the first year since 1985 that more than 20,000 new commercials had been sold.
“The industry is in great heart,’ said Perry Kerr, CEO of the Motor Industry Association. “Both our goals for 2003 have
been exceeded – 70,000 passenger cars and 90,000 total vehicles.”
Toyota continued as market leader in both the passenger and commercial segments, selling a total of 16,829 vehicles in
2003, but their 5.4% volume increase over 2002 didn’t quite match the 9.6% growth in the total market. The biggest
growth amongst the major players was experienced by second-placed Ford (up 14.1%), fourth placed Mitsubishi (up 19.2%)
and sixth placed Mazda (up 28.5%).
Top selling car for 2003 was the Holden Commodore, with 7096 sales, followed by the Ford Falcon (6520) and the Toyota
Corolla (4380).