Small cars and SUVs, together with a continued strong demand for light commercials, have driven Australia's new vehicle market to a record October sales result according to data released by the motor industry's official statistical service, VFACTS.

October sales reached a new high of 95,763, surpassing the previous October record set back in 2012.

Two small cars and a light commercial vehicle were the nation's top three sellers for October, reflecting the surge in demand within those segments.

With two months remaining, total industry sales are 0.5 per cent ahead of last year's record. Total industry sales year to date are at 984,931, compared with 980,433 this time last year.

Six record months of sales have now been posted during 2017.

Australia's overall passenger car sales declined by 3.8 per cent in October despite the 9.7 per cent upsurge in the demand for small passenger cars. Year to date, passenger cars are down by 6.9 per cent on the same ten-month period in 2016.

However, SUVs and light commercials continue their strong climb. The SUV market grew by 1.2 per cent for the month of October, compared with the same month last year, while light commercials soared by 18.5 per cent in the same period on the back of a very strong market demand for 4X4 cab-chassis models (up by a remarkable 25.2 per cent in October, compared with the same month in 2016).

Both business (+19.1%) and private (+15.6%) light commercial sales were strong during October.

Within the SUV segment, the star performers for October were in the small category (up 12.6%) and medium category (up 6.1%).

Among the states and territories, Western Australia posted the largest sales increase, up by 11.6 per cent on October 2016. South Australia recorded the second largest gain of 7.0 per cent, followed by Queensland (+5.9%), the Northern Territory (+4.3%), the ACT (+2.6%) and Victoria (+2.0%). Only NSW (-1.2%) and Tasmania (-3.5%) declined.

Japan remains our biggest source of imported vehicles (27,062 during October), followed by Thailand (22,826) and Korea (15,395).

Toyota remained Australia's marker leader with an 18.6 per cent share of the October market. Hyundai surged to second place with an October share of 9.2 per cent, followed by Mazda (8.4%), Holden (8.1%) and Ford (6.0%).

The nation's best-selling vehicle during October was the Hyundai i30 (3,983), followed by the Toyota Hilux (3,812), Toyota Corolla (3,088), Ford Ranger (3,074) and Holden Commodore (2,418).

Key Points:

  • The October 2017 market of 95,763 new vehicle sales is an increase of 2,406 vehicle sales or 2.6% on October 2016 (93,357) vehicle sales. October 2017 (25.4) had the same number of selling days as October 2016, which resulted in an increase of 94.7 vehicle sales per day.
  • The Passenger Vehicle Market is down by 1,421 vehicle sales (-3.8%) over the same month last year; the Sports Utility Market is up by 429 vehicle sales (1.2%); the Light Commercial Market is up by 2,986 vehicle sales (18.5%); and the Heavy Commercial Vehicle Market is up by 412 vehicle sales (13.7%) versus October 2016.
  • Toyota was market leader in October, followed by Hyundai and Mazda. Toyota led Hyundai with a margin of 9,036 vehicle sales and 9.4 market share points.

SALES RESULTS
Source: VFACTS

Top 10 individual models (by sales volume):  State/Territory results (by sales volume):

Total Vehicle Sales – Year to Date:

VFACTS monthly vehicle sales data is available at noon on the 3rd working day after the end of every month. Select data and media releases on the sales results are available at www.fcai.com.au