September was a positive month for the Australian automotive industry with all vehicle segments reporting year-on-year improvements in sales. Combined vehicle sales in September grew 9% year-on-year, from 86,819 units in 2011 to 94,627 units.
Official VFACTS data, released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), reveals that last month’s sales figures were up month-on-month as well, compared with the 93,552 vehicles sold in August this year.
Of the total number of vehicles sold in Australia last month, 49,210 were passenger cars (+3.2% year-on-year); 25,079 were SUVs (+20.7%); 17,589 were light commercial vehicles (+10.7%), and 2,749 were heavy CVs (+12.4%).
“Vehicle sales increased in every state and territory compared with the previous September, except South Australian sales which were down slightly (0.5%) compared to last September. The ACT (Australian Capital Territory), Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia all saw double-digit growth in September vehicle sales compared to 2011,” FCAI said in an official release.
VFACTS figures show that government purchases continued to decline in September, falling 17.4% from a year ago. Specifically, sales of passenger vehicles to the government declined 31.2% compared with the figures reported for September 2011.
Toyota sold the most number of vehicles last month at 17,300 units, followed by Mazda with 10,093 units, and Holden, which accounted for 8,955 units. The Mazda3 was the bestselling model in September, managing sales of 4,276 units. The Toyota HiLux came second, accounting for 3,479 units, while Hyundai’s i30 followed with sales of 3,144 units.
