Vehicle sales in Australia continued its downturn, with total sales nationwide dipping nearly six percent year-on-year, according to statistics provided by VFACTS.
The only bright spot for the motor industry in Australia belongs to the Sports Utility Vehicles, which recorded an increase, showing an indication that Aussies do love their hunky SUVs.
New cars sold in the first nine months of the year reached 94,711, 5.5 percent less than the September 2017 level, VFACTS data showed in its latest report.
The lone bright spot for vehicle sales belonged to the SUV segment. In general, SUV sales rose 6.2 percent to 41,420 in the January-to-September period, buoyed by the strong demand for small SUVs that saw a 25.7 percent rise in sales. Sales of upper large variants of SUVs also saw an uptick, rising 10.4 percent in the same period this year.
The slowdown in vehicle sales does not come as a surprise, pointed out Tony Weber, chief executive of industry group Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
"What we are seeing is a slightly slowing market, after the industry has produced five years of record sales over the past six years," Weber explained in a statement, adding the downtrend was only natural.
Commenting on the apparent preference of Australians towards SUVs as against passenger cars, Weber surmised that the shift merely indicates the changing trend in the perception of the traditional family car.
Asked about the sustainability of SUV sales, Weber explained that by all indication, the market won't be shunning the SUV in the months to come.
"The reason for that is that a modern SUV has all the driveability and comfort of a passenger motor vehicle and increases flexibility and that's what people want," Weber commented.
VFACTS data also showed that the Toyota Hilux was the best-selling vehicle in Australia in August with total sales reaching 4,338. The Ford Ranger placed second with 3,228, and the Toyota Corolla with 2,917. Completing the top five models sold in Australia are the Hyundai i30 (2,508), and the Mitsubishi ASX (2,138).
Japanese automaker Toyota continues to dominate the Australian market with 18.4 percent market share, miles away from the second placer Korean vehicle manufacturer Hyundai (8.6%). Rounding up the top five manufacturers were Mitsubishi (8.0%), Mazda (7.5%) and Nissan (5.5%)
Falls in sales to private individuals led the overall decline, with sales slowing 15.8 percent compared to the level recorded in September 2017. Sales to government fleet also saw a slight decline of 2.6 percent, while business fleet sales rose marginally by 0.3 percent.
