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Another month of new car sales has come and gone. Sales of new cars in May rebounded strongly after a slight downturn in April.

 

A total of 102,901 sales were recorded in May which represents a 6.4 per cent increase over the corresponding month last year.

 

The total new car market is only 0.9 per cent behind where it sat at this point in 2016.

 

There wasn’t any significant shift in market trends, Toyota is still flying and easily leads the way with Mazda and Hyundai rounding out the top three.

 

The Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger retained their respective positions at one and two. The Ranger was only 85 units behind the HiLux when all the counting was done. Ford did score a win with the Ranger outselling the HiLux in 4x4 sales.

 

Ford was also able to deliver plenty of Mustangs, 1351 in total, proving the poor ANCAP score hasn’t deterred the faithful.

 

In other uplifting news for Ford, it scored a rare win over long-time rival Holden. This is most likely a hollow victory, Holden continues their decline with sales falling 7 per cent when compared to May 2016.

 

The refreshed X-Trail helped provided a top ten seller for Nissan, it will be interesting to see if the X-Trail can hold its sport in a very competitive mid-size SUV market.

 

On the back of a much-improved range, Honda continues to enjoy a renaissance in 2017 with a massive 43 per cent increase in sales over May 2016. The addition of a new CR-V, Civic hatch and updated HR-V will keep the brand’s numbers high.

 

Isuzu also headed north with significant growth on the back of the new D-MAX and MU-X.

 

Land Rover suffered a slump but should have a strong finish to the year with the new Range Rover Velar on the way. They also need to find a way to build interest in what we think is a very underappreciated car in the Discovery Sport, it’s a brilliant lifestyle SUV.

 

 

Let’s start a Car Conversation, what do you make of the strong Mustang sales? How long until Honda are firmly entrenched in the top ten?

 

More: New Car Sales April 2017

More: New Car Sales March 2017

More: New Car Sales February 2017

More: New Car Sales January 2017