Australians bought more new cars last month than in any previous May on record.
According to official figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, 89,218 new vehicles were sold last month – 13,777 or 18.3 per cent more than in May 2009. The previous best May on record was in 2008 when 88,640 new vehicles were sold.
Toyota continued its stranglehold as Australia’s best-selling brand with May sales of 86,213 delivering a market share of 20.4 per cent. Holden maintained second place with 54,821 (13.0 per cent), ahead of Ford with 39,184 (9.3 per cent).
Mazda and Hyundai continued the battle to be the leading import brand with Mazda’s fourth place (34,847) just edging Hyundai with 34,318. The Korean brand is the world’s fastest-growing automotive nameplate and locally the Hyundai Getz was Australia’s best-selling compact car in May with 1,957 sales for 17.7 per cent of the light car segment.
Hyundai’s Korean stablemate, Kia, is also enjoying a strong 2010 with sales so far this year 21.5 per cent ahead of 2009.
Subaru was the eighth best-selling brand and its 3,610 sales represented the Japanese importer’s best ever May result. The Subaru Impreza accounted for 1,597 of those sales – its best ever month and 58.4 per cent better than May last year.
Of the luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz recorded its third straight month of leadership in that competitive segment. Benz’ mid-size E-Class sedan, CLS sedan and range-topping S-Class won their respective sub-segment battles.
Overall, despite consumer concerns about rising interest rates and economic uncertainty, all segments of the Australian automotive industry increased sales last month.
