Media Release
5 May 2008
April new vehicle sales continue at record pace
Despite the tightening economy having its effect on other sectors, new vehicle sales in April continued to set records.
Although April is seasonally one of the slower months for the vehicle market, April 2008 (helped by the extra selling
days arising from Easter falling in March) produced sales of 5551 new car sales and 2022 new commercial vehicles. New
car sales were 13.6% higher than in April 2007 and new commercial vehicle sales were 16.8% ahead of the same month last
year.
“New vehicle dealers continue to do very good business,” said Motor Industry Association CEO Perry Kerr. “This was the
best April for new commercial vehicle sales for 26 years, and the best April for new car sales since 1990. The first
four months of the year have produced 5.8% more new car sales than the same period last year, and for new commercial
vehicle sales the increase is 10.7%.”
Toyota continued to lead the market for both cars and commercial vehicles, and for the month of April the surprise
second place-getter for new car sales was Hyundai.
Corolla continues as the country’s favourite new car model on a year to date basis, although Commodore took the honours
for the month of April.
[Attachments:
Sheet 1: Top fifteen distributors, full year 2007, month of April 2008, total vehicles, new cars, new
commercials.
Sheet 2: Top fifteen sellers by model, full year 2007, month of April 2008, top fifteen rental cars April 2008.
ENDS