Car sales were down in all Australian states and territories except Tasmania last month, with national sales down 3.1%.
Releasing the October 2013 VFACTS report, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said the figures show private sales have increased 4.4% compared to the same month last year, while business sales fell 10.5% and government sales fell 7.8%.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“The October data leads us to conclude there is still confusion in the market following the previous government’s FBT proposal. It is hard to have any other explanation for the 3.1% fall in the automotive market, particularly given a number of positive economic indicators across the broader economy in recent weeks,” Weber said.
“I want people to know the FBT system has reverted to the status quo that existed before 16 July.”
Treasurer Joe Hockey reaffirmed this in a media conference and release on tax measures. This follows then coalition finance spokesperson Andrew Robb’s 9 September media release advising the FBT change was ‘dead, buried and cremated’ and new prime minister Tony Abbott’s post-election letter to the people that said confidence can return to the car industry with the certainty that Labour’s proposed FBT changes will not apply.
Weber said sales of SUVs continued to rise – up 1.7% compared to sales in October 2012 and 8.1% compared to the same year to date period last year.
“Private sales of light commercials rose significantly, up 31.6% compared to October 2012; however, total light commercial sales fell 5.9%,” Weber said.
Toyota was the top selling brand in October, with 18,129 vehicles sold, followed by Holden (10,528), Hyundai (8,130), Mazda (7,967) and Ford (7,486).
The Toyota Corolla was the top selling car in October (3,861), followed by the Mazda 3 (3,613) Holden Commodore (3,315), Toyota Hilux (3,172) and Hyundai i30 (2,379).
The Australian-made Holden Commodore, Toyota Camry and Holden Cruze were all in the top 10.
