Australia new vehicle sales resilient in July: VFACTS

[SYDNEY] Sales of new vehicles in Australia dipped slightly in July form a year earlier, though it was still the second best result for that month ever and kept the market on track for a record-braking year.

The Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries' VFACTS report on Wednesday showed 91,331 new vehicles were sold in July, down 1.1 per cent on July last year. July this year had one less selling day and sales per day were up by 93.9 vehicles.

Sales were down 29 per cent on June, which is typically a very strong month as dealers cut prices to clear stock for the end of Australia's financial year.

The running total for 2016 rose to 689,471, 2.8 per cent ahead of the same period last year. Total sales for all of 2015 was a record 1.16 million units.

Sales of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) cooled in July after a blistering run, to be up 3.5 per cent on last year. Passenger vehicles have been losing out to SUVs and slipped 8.2 per cent.

Light commercial vehicles had another upbeat month with sales rising 8.5 per cent and pointing to resilience in business investment.

Toyota Motor Corp retained first place on the sales ladder with an improved market share of 19.1 per cent in July.

Mazda Motor Corp took second spot with 9.3 per cent, followed by Hyundai Motor Co at 8.3 per cent.

The Holden unit of General Motors GM.N trailed with 7.7 per cent, while Ford took 7.5 per cent.

REUTERS