New car sales slide

There were 6,761 new passenger vehicles registered in August, which was down by three per cent from 6,971 units in the same month of last year.

In year-to-date terms, there have been 53,176 sales so far in 2024, which is down 26.3 per cent from 72,193 at the same stage a year ago.

Toyota’s RAV4 was the top model on 541 units, compared with 770 in the same month a year ago, and accounted for eight per cent of the market.

It is also the leading model for the year-to-date after selling 5,134 units and grabbing a 9.7 per cent share of activity.

Kia’s Seltos was next on the monthly chart with 306 registrations and a 4.5 per cent market share, followed by the Mitsubishi ASX, pictured, with 286 and 4.2 per cent.

Suzuki’s Swift and the Mitsubishi Outlander completed the top five last month, which was unchanged from July, on 257 and 221 units respectively.

The ASX is second on the year-to-date chart on 2,277 units, followed by the Outlander with 2,163, the Seltos on 2,002 and the Swift with 1,945.

Toyota topped the marques’ ladder in August with 1,249 registrations – down 27.8 per cent from 1,731 in the same month a year ago – and 18.5 per cent of the market. 

Next up were Kia on 844 and 12.5 per cent and Mitsubishi with 714 and 10.6 per cent. Suzuki and Hyundai were next on the ladder with 444 and 320 units respectively.

Toyota is the leading marque year to date with 10,793 units and a 20.3 per cent market share.

Mitsubishi is second with 5,879 registrations and 11.1 per cent, with Kia third on 5,645 and 10.6 per cent.