Australian new car sales of 85,196 in October were 5.per-cent up on the same month last year and confirmed the industry is on track for total annual sales of more than one million vehicles for any the fourth time in history.
With last month's result representing the best October since 2007, many are hoping the new car industry is a barometer for the total economy. As interest rates and inflation are down, the Canberra-based Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) believes relatively stable fuel prices in October and a return of business confidence contributed to the strong sales result.
Toyota continues to command sales leadership. One in every five sales last month was a Toyota vehicle and Australia's two bestselling individual models in the month were Toyota Corolla (3593) followed by the Toyota HiLux (3480).
Toyota RAV4, LandCruiser 200 series wagon and HiAce bus also topped their market segments in October and so far this year Toyota has sold 148,600 new vehicles - more than 42,000 ahead of nearest rival Holden (106,141).
Ford retains third place with 2011 sales of 76,416.
Fourth-placed Mazda ( 72,954) holds a slender lead over Hyundai (72,636) as the battle to round out 2011 as Australia's leading full-line importer seems certain to go down to the wire. Interestingly, in separate conversations with Car Showroom, both Hyundai and Mazda have denied they will be pulling any rabbits out of their hats to edge ahead in the last two months… but if the difference comes down to registering just a handful of company cars, lookout for last minute dashes to the nearest registration office in the Macquarie Park (NSW) or Notting Hill (Victoria).
And the month tossed up an interesting movement amongst market segments.
While everyone is talking about the downsizing trend - and even Volkswagen is making a lot of noise about its all-new Up compact car - sales in that segment last month were actually down by 8.1 per cent compared to October 2010. Sure the large car segment continued downwards (by 25.1 per-cent) but the buyers seem to be moving to small cars (that segment up 31.8 per-cent instead of the cheaper compacts.
