Motor vehicle sales across Australia got off to a strong start in 2018 with record breaking sales in January, according to the local trade association.
This followed a record 2017, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said.
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Sales in January, including passenger cars, SUVs, light and heavy commercial vehicles totalled 88,551 (up 4.3%) for the month in comparison to January 2017, with significant growth in SUV (up 10.9%) and Light Commercial (up 20.3%) segments.
FCAI CEO Tony Weber said: "2017 was a record year for the industry and we're pleased to see that strength continuing in the January 2018 sales results. Notably there was very strong growth in business sales of SUVs and Light Commercials."
Within January 2018 segments, there were some significant increases in sales compared to the SUV and light commercial segments in January 2017, with sales of small and medium SUVs up 25.5% and 19.2% respectively. Similarly, sales of 4X4 Light Commercials were up by 26.6%. Passenger motor vehicles declined by 8.7% compared to January 2017, although passenger vehicles alone still account for a significant 36% of the total market.
The nation's top five best-selling vehicles in January were the Toyota Hilux (3,860) followed by the Ford Ranger (3,260), the Mazda 3 (3,201), Toyota Corolla (2,776) and the Mazda CX-5 (2152).
Toyota led the market in January with a 17.3% share, followed by Mazda (11.4%), Hyundai (8.0), Holden (6.5) and Ford (6.4).
