Aussie sales top 500,000
The new car market across the Tasman has gone through the 500,000-unit milestone as a result of 125,850 registrations in June taking the year-to-date aggregate to 578,427. This was a 6.4 per cent increase on June last year. So far in 2015, sales are 3.3 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year and the Australian industry is on track to surpass the annual sales record of 1,136,227 units, which was set in 2013. Tony Weber, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, says: “Car affordability is the best it’s ever been. Coupled with offers, such as capped price servicing and low interest-rate finance, now is a great time for Australians to buy a new car.” Toyota was the top-selling brand in June with 17 per cent of the new car market. It was followed by Holden (on 9.5 per cent), Mazda (9.2 per cent), Hyundai (8.7 per cent), and Mitsubishi (7.2 per cent). Hyundai’s i30 was the top-selling car with 5,521 units. It was followed by the Toyota Hilux (4,281), Corolla (4,152), Mazda3 (4,127) and Mitsubishi Triton (3,526). Last month, the SUV segment saw the highest growth with the 42,256 sales representing a 14.7 per cent increase on June 2014. The passenger car segment rose by 4.7 per cent (56,386 units) and the light commercial vehicle segment dropped by 3.1 per cent (23,758). Year-to-date sales of SUVs in Australia are up by 13.8 per cent compared to the same period in 2014.
