WA vehicle sales hit harder than national average

Total sales of new motor vehicles fell in Western Australia by a seasonally adjusted 3.4 per cent in February compared with January 2006 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Sales of New Motor Vehicles, Australia publication shows Western Australia's vehicle sales dropped from a seasonally adjusted 8,817 in January to 8,521 in February.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA chief economist John Nicolaou said new motor vehicle sales in WA had plateaued following an extended period of strong growth, with no cause for concern.

" Actual numbers in terms of sales are still very high," he said.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted estimate for total sales of new motor vehicles decreased 2.1 per cent to 81,545 in February.

Queensland suffered the worst of all the states with a seasonally adjusted fall in total sales of 4.6 per cent in February.

The February 2006 trend estimate for total sales of new motor vehicles in WA fell 1 per cent to 8,670, while nationally the trend estimate increased 0.1 per cent to 81,640 compared with the January 2006 estimate.

Compared to February 2005, WA recorded an increase of 8.4 per cent in the trend estimate for sales of new motor vehicles.

The trend estimate of sales of passenger vehicles increased 0.2 per cent in February compared with January, while sports utility vehicles recorded a decrease of 0.3 per cent over the same period.