Australian new car sales records were also smashed in July with 92,754 sold, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) figures show.
The Toyota HiLux was top of the charts for new car sales in July, taking gold with 3742 sales, a 19.3% increase over July 2016.
Silver went to the Toyota Corolla, down 6.4% over July last year, only managing 3208 sales. The Ford Ranger took bronze with 3076, up 7%.
Most impressive however was Mazda 3 with a whopping 64.3% increase over July 2016, with 2466 sold to put it fourth.
Selling 81 fewer cars was Toyota Camry on 2385.
The first SUV in the July top ten was the Mazda CX-5 in fifth on 2305 sales.
Hyundai’s newly relaunched i30 sales stalwart was on par with last year, with 2123 sold compared with 2216 in July 2016.
Toyota RAV4 and Hyundai Tuscon managed a respectable 1736 and 1719 sales each respectively but the Tuscon was most applauded for a 14.8% increase over RAV4’s 4.9% drop on July 2016.
The go-anywhere Toyota LandCruiser scraped into the top ten with 1713 sales.
Year-to-date figures show an interesting story with Toyota, Mazda and Hyundai in first, second and third place.
Toyota has a huge lead on 126,957 and an 18.3% market share, 55,933 sales ahead of Mazda’s 71,024 and 10.3% market share.
Hyundai’s 57,320 sales give the Korean marque an 8.3% market share and third place in the top ten.
Holden sits in fourth place on 48,580 for a 7% market share, over Ford’s fifth-place efforts on 46,975 and 6.8%.
Sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth were Mitsubishi (45,693), Nissan (34,274), Kia (33,001) and Volkswagen (32,932). Subaru dug its claws in for 10th place on 30,227.
The Northern Territory managed the greatest percentage increase in new car sales, up 10% over July 2016, although only 914 new cars were bought (compared to 831).
Western Australia was down 8%, selling 7576 this July.
South Australia took second highest percentage increase from third-placed Victoria on 5667 and 26,584.
In terms of volume however, it was hands-down New South Wales with 30,620 cars sold, slightly more than Victoria. Queensland on 18,540 was in third place.
WA, SA, the ACT, Tasmania and the NT came fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth for volume, making a national percentage increase of 1.6% over July 2016.
FCAI spokesman Tony Weber says the bumper July result was impressive because it came on the back of Australia’s best-ever June figures.
“This July figure demonstrates the industry’s ability to deliver products which are not only good value but cater specifically for the changing needs of Australian customers,” Weber says.
“The steady rise in small and medium SUV sales are indicative of our market’s changing dynamic and manufacturers are moving quickly to meet those new needs and expectations.”
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