The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) said new vehicle sales in Australia fell 7.1% to 99,442 vehicles during March.
FCAI CEO Tony Weber said current economic conditions had contributed to the market's position.
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"We are seeing a cautious consumer approach at the moment, and this is not surprising given the number of economic headwinds in the Australian market," Weber said.
The three top selling vehicles for the month confirmed Australia's appetite for light commercial vehicles with the Toyota HiLux reporting 4,527 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger (3,721) and Mitsubishi Triton (2,666).
Of the top 10 vehicles sold in March, only three were passenger vehicles, further illustrating the growth of SUVs and LCVs in the Australian market. In total, SUVs and LCVs represented 67.5% of new vehicle sales last month.
This was 4.5 percentage points higher than March 2018.
On a year to date basis, the industry reported 268,538 sales across all segments, down 7.9%.
