New car sales continue to increase

AUSTRALIAN CAR COMPANIES are continuing to post record sales. Australia’s automotive industry delivered 105,023 vehicles during February 2024, which represents a 20.9 percent increase on the same period last year.

FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber, said Australia’s demand for new vehicles has continued into 2024 with another record-breaking month of sales.

“Australian motorists’ strong preference for utes, accounting for 20.3 percent of sales this month, demonstrates the challenges with the proposed New Vehicle Emissions Standard. Out of 21,327 utes sold in February, only one was an EV.

Battery electric vehicles accounted for 9.6 percent of sales in February, while one in five vehicles sold was powered by low emissions technologies.

“Growing sales of electric vehicles across other market segments proves that where a battery electric product exists which suits the driving habits of Australian motorists, work and recreation needs they will purchase these vehicles,” Mr Weber said.

Toyota was the market leader with recorded sales of 19,374, followed by Mazda (7350), Ford (7275), Nissan (6617) and Mitsubishi (6411).

The Ford Ranger was Australia’s top-selling vehicle with sales of 5353, followed by the Toyota HiLux (4403), Tesla Model 3 (3593), Isuzu Ute D-Max (2941) and Toyota RAV4 (2843). (One wonders how these numbers may have varied had supply not still been constrained.)

Sales across every State and Territory increased this month compared with February 2023. Sales in the Australian Capital Territory were up by 19.9 percent (1743); New South Wales 15.7 percent (31,943); Queensland 21.9 percent (22,466); South Australia 16.3 per cent (6451); Tasmania 28.5 percent (1817); Victoria 29.8 percent (28,415); Western Australia 15.3 percent (11,317) and Northern Territory 20.1 percent (871).