Car dealers in Western Australia will be hoping for a pickup this year, after the release of data showing a 7.9 per cent fall in new car sales in 2015 in WA, while the rest of the nation reported its best year on record.
Car dealers in Western Australia will be hoping for a pickup this year, after the release of data showing a 7.9 per cent fall in new car sales in 2015 in WA, while the rest of the nation reported its best year on record.
New car sales were 7.9 per cent lower to 106,188 in WA in 2015, while the national figure beat 2014’s result by 3.8 per cent to about 1.15 million, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries figures released today show.
It’s the sixth consecutive year that over 1 million new cars were sold in Australia.
However WA was the weakest of all states and territories last year.
WA’s biggest seller for 2015 was Toyota with 21,646 new cars sold, representing about 20.3 per cent of the total amount of new cars sold in the state, however that’s also 2,244 (or 9.4 per cent) less than 2014.
Coming in at WA’s second biggest seller was Hyundai with 11,731 new units sold, down 13.5 per cent on the previous year, while Holden took third on the podium with 9,210 new cars sold, down 14.2 per cent.
Ford sales were 17.2 per cent lower in 2015 with 6,925 new cars sold, outperformed by Mazda with 8,606 sales, a 5.2 per cent improvement on 2014.
Mitsubishi also had a better year with 7,320 new sales, up 4.7 per cent on the year prior.
Ferrari and Lamborghini both enjoyed a fruitful year with new car sales up 66.7 per cent and 80 per cent to 25 and 9 new car sales, respectively, while McLaren made two sales last year which doubled its performance in 2014.
Porsche sales were driven up 28.6 per cent to 337 for the year, and Bentley sales were up 23.1 per cent to three new cars sold.
Looking ahead on a national scale, FCAI chief executive Tony Weber expects a further 1.1 million new vehicles to be sold in the new year.
"When you have had a record year three years out of the last four, you wonder where the market will obviously go," he said.
"(But) we don't see anything on the horizon that will slow sales in terms of the broader economy."
CommSec chief economist Craig James said car affordability is at the best levels ever recorded.
"Car affordability is even stronger on a `quality adjusted' basis - vehicles built in 2015 are far superior to those sold in the early 1970s," he said.
It would take someone on the average wage to work for 23.8 weeks to purchase a new Ford Falcon in 2015, whereas it would have taken 31.6 weeks in 2010, CommSec research shows.
Mr James said vehicle sales should remain solid in 2016, with employment rising, record wealth levels and the Reserve Bank likely to remain on the interest rate sidelines.
"The area to watch is the housing market, as softer home prices could restrain car buying enthusiasm," he said.
