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Boom year for Australian car sales

Our last blog, Australians love their motorbikes, failed to mention they love their cars too. 2016 has been a boom year so far for new car sales, up 3.4% higher than last year. This is the best half-year result ever for the new car industry in Australia.

While commentators thought the election (or any other economic news for that matter) might have dampened demand, the car market in Australia seems healthy. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) says, thanks to competition and low interest rates, cars are currently good value and affordable.

Bestsellers

The top 5 bestsellers in June 2016 were:

  1. Hyundai i30 (6,432)
  2. Toyota Hilux (4,613)
  3. Toyota Corolla (4,427)
  4. Mazda3 (4,112)
  5. Ford Ranger (4,078).

Only sales of passenger motor cars were lower, down by 4.5% since June 2015, but these buyers preferred those locally made.

SUVs

Once again, SUVs were prominent in the car market:

  • Sales of SUVs were buoyant, up 8.9% on June 2015
  • Most popular were small SUVs, up 18.2% over last year
  • SUV sales to business were up 18.7%
  • Demand for diesel SUVs from non-private buyers rose 37.6%.

Car Advice magazine, which describes small SUVs as “the high-riding city-car based crossovers”, notes a moderate slowdown in sales growth of small SUVs. While their market share of 9.8% is up by 0.6 points on last year, this year’s 18.2% sales increase is lower than last year’s solid 27% rise.

For more on SUVs, see our blog, Australians love their SUVs. Get the cheapest green slip for your SUV.

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Corrina Baird

Writer and Researcher, greenslips.com.au

Corrina used to lend her car to her kids and discovered what Ls, Ps and demerits mean for greenslips. After 20 years in financial services and over 8 years with greenslips.com.au, she’s an expert in the NSW CTP scheme. Read more about Corrina

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