Australia’s 2015 new car market topped half a million in the first half of 2015 with both June sand year to date sales up compared with 2014 tallies.
June sales rose 6.4% to 125,850 units and the YTD total was up 3.3% to 578,427.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the half year figures showed strong growth in the Australian new car market, “which is a reflection of the affordability of new cars in Australia”.
“According to CommSec, car affordability in Australia is the best it has ever been. Coupled with offers such as capped price servicing and low interest rate finance, now is a great time for Australians to buy a new car,” Weber said.
In June, the SUV segment saw the highest growth, with the 42,256 sales representing a 14.7% increase on June 2014 sales figures. The passenger car segment rose 4.7% (56,386) and the light commercial vehicle segment fell 3.1% (23,758). YTD SUV sales were up 13.8%.
Small passenger cars and light commercial vehicles dominated the top five list last month, led by the Hyundai i30 (5,521), Toyota Hilux (4,281), Toyota Corolla (4,152), Mazda 3 (4,127) and Mitsubishi Triton (3,526).

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By GlobalData“In June 2015, we have seen new car sales to business increase 10.5%. Specifically, business buyers purchased 20.8% more SUVs, 9.1% more passenger cars and 3.4% more light commercial vehicles,” Weber said. “Sales to private buyers rose 3.7% and sales to government rose 3.5%.”
Toyota was, as usual, the top selling brand in June with 17.1% of the new car market. GM’s Holden (9.5%), Mazda (9.2%), Hyundai (8.7%) and Mitsubishi (7.2%) followed.