Australia’s new car market has achieved record sales in May with 105,694 units sold. This, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) is a 12.0 per cent increase on the same month last year and represents a 2.7 per cent increase on May 2017 which was the previous best May result.
Furthermore, year-to-date sales show a 4.3 percent increase from the same period last year with 456,833 new vehicles delivered in 2023 so far.
According to the FCAI, “Every State and Territory saw an increase with significant growth in Western Australia of 25.1 per cent and Queensland 17.4 per cent compared with May 2022. Growth was recorded in all buyer type market segments – Private, Business, Government and Rental – compared with May 2022.”
“This result is a signal that we are starting to see some improvement in supply,” said FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber. “However, not all issues are resolved, and our members continue to work with their customers to improve vehicle delivery times.”
“A large proportion of vehicles delivered this month would have been ordered during 2022,” he said.
“Since then, we have seen a shift in economic conditions with a focus on rising cost pressures for households and businesses. Nevertheless, reports from our members indicate that demand remains firm,” Mr. Weber added.
New Car Sales by the Numbers
Toyota (18,340) was the market leader in May followed by Mazda (8,475), Hyundai (7,078), Kia (7,000) and Ford (6,251).
The Toyota Hi-Lux (5,772) was the largest-selling model followed by Ford Ranger (4,110), Tesla Model Y (3,178), Toyota RAV4 (2,616) and MG ZS (2,502).
The May 2023 market of 105,694 new vehicle sales is an increase of 11,311 vehicle sales or 12.0% against May 2022 (94,383). There were 26.8 selling days in May 2023 compared to 25.8 in May 2022 and this resulted in an increase of 285.6 vehicle sales per day.
The Passenger Vehicle Market is up by 868 vehicle sales (5.0%) over the same month last year; the Sports Utility Market is up by 7,552 vehicle sales (14.7%); the Light Commercial Market is up by 2,296 vehicle sales (10.7%) and the Heavy Commercial Vehicle Market is up by 595 vehicle sales (14.4%) versus May 2022.
Vehicle sales across States and Territories have all been positive. Western Australia led with a 25.1 percent increase from last year (11,703 vehicles sold) with Queensland following suit with a 17.4 percent increase compared to May 2022 (22,306 vehicles sold). New car sales in Victoria were up 15.9 percent (29,154 units sold), up 10.7 percent in the Australian Capital Territory (1,513 units sold), up 10.5 percent in South Australia (6,737 units sold), up 9.9 percent in the Northern Territory (1,095 units sold), up 2.8 percent in Tasmania (1,697 units sold), and up 2.4 percent in New South Wales (31, 489 units sold).
According to Mr. Weber, while vehicle supply issues might be beginning to ease, the industry remained cautious around broader economic conditions and their potential impact on demand.
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