Australia's strong sales

Sales of 101,392 new vehicles in Australia during September continued 2015’s growth of 6.8 per cent compared to the same month of 2014. Year-to-date registrations now come in at 862,832 – 3.6 per cent higher than for the same period last year. Tony Weber, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), says the figures indicate “support for wider data that suggests vehicle affordability is at an all-time high”. He adds: “The phenomenal growth in the sales of SUVs also indicates the trend towards these vehicles has continued.” Weber notes sales of small, medium and large SUVs grew by 24.8, 27.2 and 20 per cent respectively last month – and by 30, 14.9 and 7.4 per cent year to date. Passenger vehicles were up by two per cent compared to last September. Toyota maintained its overall market leadership with sales representing 16.4 per cent of the market. It was followed by Mazda (10.7%), Holden (9.2%), Hyundai (9.2%) and Mitsubishi (6.8%). Despite continued strong growth in demand for SUVs, the top-selling models were passenger vehicles with the Hyundai i30 coming first on 4,490 units. It was followed by the Mazda 3 (3,588), the Toyota Corolla (3,530), Toyota Camry (2,522) and Ford Ranger (2,471).