Sales down, but most states still strong

The new vehicle market topped 97,400 new sales in March, a slight decrease of 216 sales or – 0.2% on March 2012 (97,616 vehicle sales).

Decreases in sales were registered by a few states, while others remained strong, returning bumper figures.

New South Wales was the biggest volume seller with 29,928 units. This is a decrease of 279 vehicles, or 0.9% compared to the same month last year.

The state remains healthy with 83,549 vehicle sales year-to-date (YTD), up 2953 or 3.7%.

Victoria topped 25,360, down 817 or 3.1% in March. This again goes against the YTD trend, with 72,358 units shifted this year, up 2633 or 3.8%.

Queensland was next in with 21,135. This figure is up 417 units or 2.0% last month, making it the first of the ‘big three’ states to see a rise in March.

Western Australia took fourth place in March with 11,145 sales, up 501 units or 4.7%. YTD the state is registering the third largest percentage rise, with a total of 30,022 sales up 2691 or 9.2%.

South Australia sold 5680 last month, down 357 or 5.9% – the biggest percentage drop of the month. The YTD total remains strong, with 17,294 units up by 1291 or 8.1%.

Tasmania continues to reverse the trend of 2012. Sales of 1564 in March are up 203 units or 14.9%. YTD the island state have seen the largest rise, no doubt helped by last year’s bad run. Total sales of 4276 are up 759 units or 21.6%.

ACT sold 1513, up 92 or 6.5% for the month. YTD sales of 4409 is up 395 or 9.8%.

Northern Territory is the smallest seller on 1075, but it is still up 2.3%. YTD figures of 2690 are up 1.6%.