Another Record Month for Car Sales

The cost of living might be going up across the board with increases in water, gas, electricity and just about everything else but it hasn’t stopped Australians from buying new cars and setting another record month for car sales in Australia.

Official VFACTS data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) showed that 108,722 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were sold in June, up 5.7 per cent (or 5,875 vehicles) on the same month in 2009.

“The record June result is a clear demonstration of renewed confidence in the marketplace,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

Today’s result eclipses the previous June monthly record set in 2008 by 2181 units to become the highest selling month in history.

“It is encouraging to see that private buyers have returned to the market in greater numbers and have taken over the momentum previously attributed to business sales,” Mr McKellar said.

Year-to-date, 531,168 vehicles have been sold, an increase of 16.7 percent compared to the first six months of 2009.

“Given the stronger than expected state of the market over the past six months, the industry has upgraded its annual sales forecast to in excess of 980,000 units – up from our original forecast of 940,000 sales,” Mr McKellar said.

“This is a positive yet cautious outlook for the second half of the year, as we assess the impact of factors on the market such as previous interest rate increases,” Mr McKellar said.

The SUV segment was the strongest performer during the first six months of 2010 with an increase of 30.8 per cent; followed by passenger cars (up 15.8 per cent), heavy commercials (up 8.8 per cent) and then light commercials with a 5.8 per cent increase.

Year-to-date, Toyota has the top selling position with a market share of 20.2 per cent; followed by Holden with 12.9 per cent and then Ford with 9.3 per cent.