Australians bought 112,566 new vehicles in June – 17.1 per cent more than June last year. And with sales in first six months of 547,854 vehicles (10.4 per-cent ahead of 2011), predictions are for 2012 to be another one million-plus year for the new car market.
Last month Toyota maintained its vice-like grip on the top spot with sales of 21,649 vehicles (19.2 per cent of the market) ahead of Holden with 10,632. For the first six months of the year, Toyota again dominated local sales with 106,035 vehicles sold and the company expects to sell more than 200,000 vehicles by 31 December.
Commenting on the figures, Toyota Australia’s executive director of sales and marketing, Matthew Callachor noted his company’s strong recovery from the aftermath of last year’s earthquake/tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand which enabled Toyota to sell 202,531 vehicles in the Financial year which ended on 30 June. “This strong result is due to the untiring efforts of Toyota people everywhere to rebuild supply of key vehicles – it was truly remarkable that they turned around the situation much faster than anyone expected,” Mr Callachor said. “Expanded production at Toyota’s HiLux factory in Thailand has enabled us to deliver a substantial number of vehicles in recent months.”
Hyundai was the number three best- selling brand in June with 9,672 sales – just ahead of Mazda with 9,593.
But for the first six months of the year, Mazda enjoyed record sales of 52,133 to be number three overall and the leading imported brand. In June Mazda3 (3924 sales) was Australia’s best-selling passenger car and the new Mazda CX5 continued its surge with 1,955 sales to be our best-selling SUV.
Ford was number five in June with 9,140 sales and is fifth for the first six months with a total of 43,430.
Overall for the first six months of 2012, SUV sales (153,255 vehicles) were up by 33.4 per-cent over last year and passenger car sales (286,118 vehicles) were up by 3.1 per-cent.
