Australians bought 74,864 new vehicles in January – 11.6 per cent better than January 2009 – providing a confidence-lifting start to the new-year for the automotive segment.
Toyota continues to lead the way with 14,564 sales, ahead of Holden (10,468) and Ford (6,730).
Mazda maintains market leadership of the imported brands and is Australia’s fourth most popular make with 6,658 sales. In fact the January result was Mazda’s second best ever January performance.
Hyundai posted its best-ever January result with 6,208 sales and its market share of 8.3 per cent equaled its best ever monthly result.
Audi also scored its best ever January sales with 1,328 new vehicles moving out the door while BMW’s 1,481 sales represents a 43.6 improvement over January 2009.
According to the industry’s peak body, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, new car affordability is attracting buyers to the market.
“Business purchases remained strong in January with some buyers taking delivery of vehicles ordered last year under the Federal Government’s tax break,” explained the Chamber’s Chief Executive, Mr Andrew McKellar. “New car affordability is better than ever and has been further enhanced by the tariff cut on many imported vehicles.”
The industry expects the price competitiveness now evident across the board will encourage more private buyers to purchase new cars this year.
