New car sales in Australia continued to decline in February according to figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
A total of 87,102 new vehicles were sold in February which represents a decrease of 9.3 per cent on the same period last year.
After two months, the overall market is down 8.4 per cent over with the cumulative total for 2019 standing at 169,096 sales.
Passenger cars continue to fall away dropping 21.3 per cent, SUVs fared better with a decline of 6.3 per cent. Defying the downward trend was the light commercial market which grew by 6 per cent.
Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI said: “Given the current challenging economic conditions, including a downturn in the housing market the automotive industry is not surprised by the slower start to the year.”
Toyota was again the market leader in February, followed by Mazda and Mitsubishi. Toyota finished the month with a sales lead over Mazda of 7124 vehicles.
Mitsubishi smashed it in a declining market to grow by an incredible 18.9 per cent to record 8495 sales. No doubt this result was helped by sharp deals on the old and new Triton ute.
The only other brand in the top 10 to improve on the same month last year was Kia (up 4.1 per cent). Hyundai (down 19.6), Honda (down 22.1 per cent) and Nissan (down 19.3 per cent) all recorded large drops.
Despite plenty of advertising, an abundance of stock and dealers willing to heavily discount, Holden fell again (down 18.4 per cent). The brand did manage to secure tenth spot on the sales table.
Interestingly, Subaru went backwards by a substantial 47.9 per cent, recording only 2031 sales.
It was a better month for Skoda (up 19 per cent), MG (up 794.7 per cent) and Suzuki (up 7.7 per cent).
American pick-up specialist Ram went from 14 sales to 172 on the back of the more affordable (still $80k plus!) Ram 1500.
The three top-selling vehicles were all utes with the Toyota HiLux again in the top spot with 4431 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger (3377) and the Mitsubishi Triton (3155).
Top 10 selling new vehicles - February 2019
Toyota HiLux - 4431
Ford Ranger - 3377
Mitsubishi Triton - 3155
Mazda 3 - 2655
Mazda CX-5 - 2357
Mitsubishi ASX - 2122
Toyota Corolla - 2070
Hyundai i30 - 1929
Toyota LandCruiser - 1804
Toyota RAV4 - 1639
Top 10 selling vehicle brands - February 2019
Toyota - 16,359
Mazda -9235
Mitsubishi - 8495
Hyundai - 6429
Ford - 5678
Kia - 4856
Volkswagen - 4067
Nissan - 3923
Honda - 3865
Holden - 3825
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