New vehicles sales dip in July
Industry suffers a 2.7 per cent sales drop over July 2007, but year-to-date sales are still aheadUnsurprisingly, new car sales "softened" in July following repeated onslaughts by ever-rising fuel prices, increasing interest rates and an air of general economic uncertainty.
According to figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, sales of cars, trucks and buses in July fell 2.7 per cent from those in the same month last year. In July 2008, 83,976 cars, trucks and buses were sold, compared with 86,291 in July 2007.
One of the biggest losers is the luxury car segment, which recorded a sales drop 33 per cent down on June figures.
FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar (pictured) said the proposed lift in luxury car tax (more here) has had a "devastating" impact on the segment.
Commenting further on the effects of the proposed tax hike on the luxury segment, he added that the industry has "significant concerns that orders will continue to be affected in coming months."
About the only bright spots for July were the light car segment (up 1.0 per cent), medium SUVs (up 8.1 per cent) and large SUVs (up 7.4 per cent), while light commercials were also up, by 6.3 per cent over July 2007.
Overall, Toyota continued at the top of the tree for the month with 24.4 per cent of the market, with Holden following at 13.3 per cent and Ford at 11.3 per cent.
Year-to-date figures reflect the same positioning with Toyota sitting on 147,961 sales; Holden on 78,271 and Ford on 63,933.
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