Buoyed by the threat of the 1 October GST [sales tax] increase, and coupled with strong pre-summer tourist season rental vehicle sales, plus fleet catch-ups, September new passenger car registrations were 12.6% up year on year with commercial vehicles 13.3% ahead over the same period.
New passenger car registrations of 6,298 units were 12.6% ahead of September 2009 and 13.6% up on a year to date basis, the local Motor Industry Association (MIA said). There were 1,646 commercial vehicle registrations, up 13.3% for the month, and, year to date, 15.8% ahead of 2009 registrations.
Toyota, as usual led for total sales followed by Ford, GM’s Holden and Mazda. Year to date, the pattern repeated. Toyota led new passenger car sales (1,479) followed by Ford (827), Holden (491) and Mazda (477). Commercial vehicles saw Toyota again first (418) ahead of Ford (253), Nissan (241) and Mitsubishi (132).
The Toyota Corolla was both the best selling passenger car and top model overall with 631 registrations, followed by the Toyota Camry (356). The third best selling car was Ford’s Focus with 280 registrations. In the commercial segment the top selling model was again the Toyota Hilux (261) with the Nissan Navara second (219) and the Ford Ranger third (142).