Australians bought 73,584 new vehicles in January – a solid start to the new year but 1.7 per cent down on the same month in 2010.
Analysts point to a 12.8 per cent decline in flood-ravaged Queensland as the major cause for the reduced January total.
Toyota was again the best-selling brand with 14,817 sales or 20.1 per cent of the market. For the third consecutive month, Toyota Corolla was Australia’s best-selling car.
Holden placed second (11.4 per cent), ahead of Mazda (9.8 per cent) while Ford and Hyundai tied for fourth position, each achieving a market share of 8.7 per cent.
In fact, Hyundai’s 6,410 sales represented its best-ever January result and continued 25 months of consecutive sales growth.
Overall, SUV sales were again up while passenger car sales were down slightly.
