VFACTS: August sales down 10pc

AUSTRALIAN new car sales for August are in, the month recording 98,328 registrations to make it the second-best August result on record, despite being down 10.6 per cent on last year’s August number.

Toyota again led the Australian new car market with August sales of 21,490 units, followed by Ford (8890), Mazda (8263), Kia (6903), and Hyundai (6211).

The Toyota RAV4 was Australia’s best-selling vehicle with sales of 6712 units in August, leading the Ford Ranger (5431), Toyota HiLux (4496), Isuzu D-Max (2548), and Toyota LandCruiser (2504).

Sales across all states and territories fell across August with the Australian Capital Territory down 21.9 per cent to 1338 units, New South Wales 13.9 per cent to 29,831, Tasmania 13.0 per cent to 1604, Victoria 10.6 per cent to 26,039, Western Australia 9.9 per cent to 10,482, Northern Territory 8.1 per cent to 911; Queensland 7.5 per cent to 21,310; and South Australia 2.0 per cent to 6813.

According to FCAI chief executive Tony Weber, the August result is a good number, despite being down 10.6 per cent on the same time last year.

“This is a positive result in historic terms with this being the second highest August ever in Australia,” he said.

“The outlier in the data is the 2023 number which broke the previous best August result (2017) by 13.8 per cent. Year to date the market is up by 5.3 per cent.

“Once again, the new car market is showing signs of resilience as cost-of-living pressures and interest rates continue to impact the economy.

“Consumer preferences for the types of vehicles they want to drive is demonstrated with the Passenger segment representing only 15.4 per cent of the total market.

“The SUV segment represented 57.5 per cent and Light Commercial vehicles made up 22.9 per cent making these two segments more than 80 per cent of the total market.

“Consumers continue to embrace low emission vehicles with hybrid sales up 44.9 per cent on August 2023 while sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles are up 119.8 per cent.

“However, in line with the experience in many global markets, sales of battery electric vehicles are disappointing.

“This is despite the supply of battery electric vehicles increasing significantly with more brands and EV models having entered the Australian market,” he concluded.

Top 10 vehicle sales by make (August 2024):

Top 10 vehicle sales by model (August 2024):

State by state (August 2024):

*All data supplied courtesy of the FCAI.