July sees big drop in new vehicle sales

Media Release
4 August 2008

July sees big drop in new vehicle sales

July has seen the biggest seasonal drop in new vehicle sales since the nineties, but the 15.7% reduction in combined new car and commercial vehicle sales against July 2007 compares with a 36.8% fall in sales of used imported vehicles. 5429 new cars were sold in July compared with 6382 for the same month last year, and 2059 new commercial vehicles were sold against 2497 for July 2007.

“It’s certainly been a roller-coaster winter so far,” said Perry Kerr, CEO of the Motor Industry Association. “There were signs of a slowdown in new vehicle sales in May, then June bounced back strongly, followed by a July which has reflected most of the recent negative economic data.”

For the seven months year to date, new car sales are running at virtually the same level as the equivalent period last year, and new commercial vehicle sales are 4.3% ahead.

Toyota continue to extend their lead over Ford and Holden in new vehicle sales, while Corolla maintains the year to date lead over Commodore as the country’s top selling car model.

Sheet 1: Top fifteen distributors, full year 2007, month of July 2008, total vehicles, new cars, new commercials.

Sheet 2: Top fifteen sellers by model, full year 2007, month of July 2008, top fifteen rental cars July 2008.

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