Australians cautious about buying new cars

The number of Aussies who bought a new car in January 2019 is down 7.4% on sales figures from the same time last year. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) attributes this caution to lower levels of consumer confidence.

According to VFACTS, 81,994 new vehicles were sold in January 2019. Of these sales, 15,961 (19.5%) were for Toyota vehicles; 9490 (11.6%) were for Mazda and 6669 (8.1%) were for Mitsubishi.  

FCAI CEO, Tony Weber, described the current economic environment as “a challenging one”, adding that an imminent federal election, a declining real estate market and tighter lending practices could all contribute to lower consumer confidence and vehicle sales.

“However, Australia’s love affair with SUVs continues. January was a solid sales period for these vehicles, with the segment claiming 43.8 per of total market sales.”

“Passenger sales were strong in the small car segment, with the Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla and Hyundai i30 leading the pack.”

According to VFACTs, sales of passenger vehicles were down -12% on the same month last year; sales of SUVs were down -5.1% on the same month last year; sales of light commercial vehicles were down -5.8% on the same month last year; but sales of heavy commercial vehicles were up 8.3% on the same month last year.

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