Car sales in Western Australia are petering out towards the end of a heady year that should set yet another benchmark.
Car sales in Western Australia are petering out towards the end of a heady year that should set yet another benchmark.
On a year-to-date basis, there have been 111,466 motor vehicles sold in WA for the 11 months ending November 30, up 9.9 per cent on the previous year.
But November itself was a poor month in comparison, up just 4.6 per cent compared with the same time last year when 10,435 vehicles had been sold.
The national vehicle industry is also expected to finish 2007 in record territory, selling more than one million cars and trucks for the first time.
With one month to go, 963,732 new cars and trucks already have been sold across the country, an 8.8 per improvement compared with the same period in 2006.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said vehicle buyers appeared to be unfazed by November’s interest rate rise.
The FCAI said continued strength of the Australian dollar is underpinning the competitiveness of many models, and consumers were responding to that.
The FCAI first forecast the one million market earlier this year and 2007 is now certain to beat the previous top-selling year of 2005, when 988,269 vehicles were sold.
Growth has been spread across most sectors, with medium sports utility vehicles (up 26 per cent) and light cars (up 15 per cent) among the best.
The FCAI said rising fuel prices had not had much impact on the SUV market, with even sales of large off-roaders continuing to grow.
Toyota was the top-selling brand nationally in November with 20,956 vehicles, or 22.8 per cent of the market, ahead of Holden with 12,498 and Ford with 9,219.
Toyota also was the leading company on a year-to-date basis with 216,034 vehicles, well clear of Holden on 136,216 and Ford on 99,094.
Last month, Ian Armstrong, general manager of WA Toyota franchisee Perron Group, told WA Business News Toyota was performing across the board, from mining and agriculture with LandCruisers to general passenger cars of all types.
Mr Armstrong said the hybrid-powered Prius was selling well with better supply to service demand coming from all quarters, including fleet sales.
