WA vehicle sales down

Western Australian automotive sales have gone against the national trend for the month of July, down nearly 13 per cent on those of July 2014, despite a national increase in sales.

A Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries report shows that, Australia-wide, there was a 2.7 per cent increase in new vehicle sales for July 2015 compared with the same month last year, with annual figures for the year ending July 2015 up 3.2 per cent.

The only other parts of Australia to experience negative sales growth were the Northern Territory, where July sales were down 8.4 per cent, and South Australia, which sold 4.7 per cent fewer cars in July than it did for that month in 2014.

The decline in the resources sector played a major role, with WA sales of light and heavy commercial vehicles both down, 17.2 and 18.6 per cent respectively, for July.

Sales of four-wheel-drive utes in the state were down significantly, with almost 20 per cent fewer sold last month than in July 2014, contrasting starkly with a national growth of 5.6 per cent in sales of that vehicle class.

Medium-sized cars, SUVs, and light buses were the only vehicle classes to increase sales in WA; light buses showed especially high growth, with annual sales up 38.6 per cent to 370 for the year to date.

Nationwide, there was a continued trend of decreasing passenger car sales, with consumers increasingly buying SUVs instead.

Australia experienced a 13.7 per cent increase in annual SUV sales compared with the year before, with passenger car sales down 3.3 per cent in the same period.

In terms of marques, Lamborghini had the biggest spikes in sales both nationally and in WA.

A total of 69 Lamborghinis was sold in Australian dealerships over the year to date, with eight of those in WA, up from the previous year’s figures of seven nationally and one in WA.