Three of Australia’s top five selling vehicles in February 2013 were light commercials, according to official VFACTS data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).
February 2013 sales of 90,218 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were up 5.2% or 4495 vehicles on February 2012, with year to date sales 8.1% higher than the same period in 2012. All states and territories showed growth, ranging from 3.0% (Queensland) to 14.0% (Tasmania), compared with February 2012.
Mazda3 was again the top selling vehicle with 3378 sales, followed by the Toyota HiLux (3319), the Toyota Corolla (3158), the Nissan Navara (2645) and the Mitsubishi Triton (2335).
Government purchases were down 30.2% compared with February last year. Sales of passenger vehicles continue the decline seen in previous months, with sales down 5.7% compared to February 2012.
Total sales of SUVs and light commercials were slightly higher than sales of passenger vehicles in February, reflecting the range of choice in the market.
Sales growth of SUVs has continued to climb with a 14.2% increase on sales in February 2012. However, sales of light commercials have outstripped even this growth with 2013 sales 26.9% higher than the same month in 2012.
Both private and business buyers have delivered this growth, at the expense of the medium and large passenger vehicle categories which declined 26.6% and 28.1% respectively, compared to February 2012.
Each of the local manufacturers showed declining sales. Toyota retains the top sales position in the February monthly market with 16,017 vehicle sales, ahead of Mazda with 8728 and Nissan third with 8212.
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