Sales of passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were strong in July 2013, totalling 90,235, yet lower than expected.
Releasing the July 2013 VFACTS data, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) Chief Executive Tony Weber said it is disappointing that even after only half a month, we are seeing sales impacted by the Government’s FBT announcement. “The full impact; however, will take some time to completely work its way through the sales figures,” he said.
“Anyone looking at the July figures needs to put them in context and look at what the new-car market was doing before the FBT announcement. Even though sales were at an all-time high for a July, we had good reason to expect them to be even higher given our members’ tracking of the market in the first half of the month.”
The latest VFACTS data shows year-to-date sales are 4.6 per cent higher than in the same period last year. If the Government’s recent change to FBT on cars is legislated, the FCAI expects this growth will decline as we move through 2013 and into 2014.
The Toyota Corolla was the top selling vehicle last month with 3,945 sold. The Mazda 3 came in second (3,464 units sold), followed by last month’s best seller, the Toyota Hilux (2,971 units sold), and the new Holden Commodore (2,827 units sold). The Holden Cruze took fifth place with 2,467 sales.
Government purchases of passenger vehicles and SUVs both dropped around 24 per cent compared to July 2012, with only 1,509 passenger vehicles and 695 SUVs purchased. Government purchases of light commercials grew 3.2 per cent (1,176 units sold). Total Government purchases YTD show a decline of 26.1 per cent (or 8,093 vehicles) compared to the same period in 2012.
Sales of locally manufactured vehicles are up 4.8 per cent compared to July 2012. Overall, Toyota held the top sales position in the July monthly market with 17,433 vehicle sales, ahead of Holden with 10,137, Mazda with 8,525, Hyundai with 8,009 and Ford with 6,733.
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