WA car sales continue to stall

Western Australian new vehicle sales are down 10.2 per cent for the month of August, according to a report from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

The result means the state is down 8.3 per cent for the year to date, well below the national average fall of 2.5 per cent.

The next poorest performer for the year was Tasmania, down 7.1 per cent.

WA’s August car sales figure of 9,137 was 1,040 vehicles down on sales of 10,177 in the previous corresponding period.

The state’s most popular brand, Toyota, was down 15.8 per cent compared with the same month last year, falling from 2,103 to 1,770.

This brought its year to date fall to 10.8 per cent.

Hyundai had a stronger month with an increase of 7.8 per cent compared with August 2013, with sales of 1,269 taking its total for the year so far to 9,348, still 8.7 per cent down for the same period last year.

Ford had a subdued month, down only 1 per cent but still fell 8.8 per cent for the year to date.

Holden was down 16.9 per cent for the month, putting it into negative territory for the year, down 0.2 per cent to 7,603.

Passenger, light commercial, SUV and heavy commercial vehicle sales were all down for the year to date.

The fall in sales comes after years of significant growth in the new vehicle market, with total national sales in the year to date of 737,975 compared with 757,282 for that period in 2013.

Sales were 728,047 for the same period in 2012.