New vehicle sales report – July 2009

The latest information from VFACTS tells us that business sales are continuing to prevent sales from falling too far. While June was a bumper month, July sales returned to a more usual figure for 2009, with 75,333 vehicles rolling off showrooms around the country. That’s a drop of 10.3% on July sales in 2008.

Unsurprisingly, sales in the small car segment have increased marginally by 2.7% compared to the same month last year. In contrast to the downsizing customers, though, is news that the sports car and SUV categories also increased sales by 10.3% and 2.4% respectively.

“There is evidence that there has been some flow-on from the very strong June sales result, particularly from buyers accessing the business tax break on new investments,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

“This has been a very successful stimulus measure and small businesses remain eligible for a 50 per cent tax break until the end of the year.”

Overall, yearly sales now total 530,566 which is almost 100,000 vehicles down on 2008 figures, or a drop of 15.3%.

Business Sales Continue to Provide a Boost to Car Market

5 August – The latest new vehicle sales data shows business sales remain strong and there have been improvements in the small car, sports car and SUV segments.

Official VFACTS data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows that 75,333 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were sold in July 2009.

This result is down 10.3 per cent (8,643 vehicles) compared to July last year.

“There is evidence that there has been some flow-on from the very strong June sales result, particularly from buyers accessing the business tax break on new investments,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

“This has been a very successful stimulus measure and small businesses remain eligible for a 50 per cent tax break until the end of the year,” he said.

“It’s also important to remember that the tax break remains in place for general businesses at a rate of 10 per cent, which is still a valuable incentive,” Mr McKellar said.

“Some brands are reporting that as a result of stronger sales in recent months they have supply constraints on certain models, proving again the success of the Federal Government’s tax incentive,” he said.

Sales of small cars increased 2.7 per cent in July compared to the same month last year, sales of sports cars increased 10.3 per cent, sales in the SUV medium segment were up 2.4 per cent and the SUV luxury segment increased 7.2 per cent.

Year-to-date 530,556 new vehicles have been sold, down 15.3 per cent (96,115) compared to the same period last year.

Toyota continued in the top sales position in July with 16,664 vehicle sales, ahead of Holden with 10,266 and Ford with 7,783.