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New vehicle sales down across the ditch

Australia sees trade figures at their lowest since 2011 after a ‘tough year’.
Posted on 06 January, 2020
New vehicle sales down across the ditch

New vehicle sales in Australia fell by 7.8 per cent in 2019 compared to the previous year, with 1,062,867 units shifted during the past 12 months.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) says the figures are the lowest annual sales result reported in its statistical service VFACTS since 2011.

On a monthly basis, 84,239 new vehicle sales were recorded for December 2019, a decrease of 3.8 per cent from December 2018.

Tony Weber, FCAI chief executive, says the results “reflect a tough year for the Australian economy, with challenges including tightening of lending, movements in exchange rates, slow wages growth and, of course, the extreme environmental factors our country is experiencing”.

Weber, pictured, notes the year also saw a further shift to SUV sales, which now hold 45.5 per cent of the total market, a 2.5 percentage point increase from 2018. 

Over the full-year, light commercial vehicle share grew by 0.6 percentage points to claim 21.2 per cent of the market, while passenger motor vehicles decreased by 3.1 percentage points to 29.7 per cent

While holding the largest share of market, sales of SUVs declined for full year 2019 by 2.4 per cent compared to 2018, sales of passenger vehicles fell by 16.5 per cent and sales of light commercial vehicles dropped by 5.2 per cent. 

The Toyota Hilux again took the title of the number-one selling vehicle across all categories, with 47,649 sales in 2019. It was followed by the Ford Ranger with 40,960 sales, the Toyota

Corolla on 30,468, the Hyundai i30 with 28,378, and the Mitsubishi Triton was fourth on 25,819. 

Across the brands, Toyota led the market in 2019 with 19.4 per cent market share, followed by Mazda on 9.2 per cent, Hyundai at 8.1 per cent, Mitsubishi on 7.8 per cent and Ford at six per cent.