New vehicle sales keep on keeping on

3 August 2005

New vehicle sales keep on keeping on

Although new vehicle sales in July were down on the levels achieved in June, this is a seasonal trend and both new passenger car and commercial vehicle sales were ahead of July 2004 and in fact any other July since 1990. Year to date, total new vehicle sales are ahead of YTD July 2004 by 5.2 %, and are on target to exceed 100,000 for the full year for the first time since 1989.

“We’re encouraged by the continuing strength of the new vehicle market despite uncertainty caused by high fuel prices and the upcoming election,” said Perry Kerr, CEO of the Motor Industry Association. “Although trading conditions are not getting any easier, it’s clear that buyers are continuing to respond to the excellent value that’s on offer out there.”

Toyota moved up a gear to overtake Ford in passenger cars year to date. Although Commodore still leads in the individual model stakes the big feature of July was the relative movement of certain large vs. small cars.

For example, July Commodore sales were 30% down on the YTD June monthly average, Falcon was 20% down and Territory was 17.5% down. Conversely, Corolla was 13% up, Jazz was 19% up, Astra 59% up and Swift 69% up. It may be early days, but if this segmentation shift continues in following months it may well indicate that the market is responding to the price of fuel.

ENDS

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