Australia recorded 98,375 new vehicle sales in October 2024, surpassing one million for the year.
However, it also showed that growth has eased in the last quarter.
The October result is 7.9% down from last year’s month and continues the market’s easing during the second half of 2024. However, it is the second-best October result on record, bringing the year-to-date sales total to 1,025,621.
“While not at the record levels 2023, the October result is solid,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Tony Weber says.
“However, we remain concerned about the continuing performance of the private buyer’s segment, which was down 14.2% this month following a reduction of 17.2% in September. This does indicate that economic pressures are a concern for families across the country,” he says.
Weber says that the share of new sales for battery electric vehicles has remained subdued despite the increase in new brands and the substantial tax benefits available to some purchasers through the FBT concession.
“Many of these new EV sales are in the highly competitive medium passenger segment, which already records almost fifty per cent of sales being electric, but the segment accounting for just over four per cent of total sales.
“Conversely, we are now witnessing the introduction of new plug-in hybrid models in the SUV and light commercial segments, previously dominated by petrol and diesel models. This is significant given Australia’s overwhelming popularity of SUVs and light commercial vehicles.
“This activity across segments and models highlights the competitiveness of our market and the increasing choice available to consumers across vehicle and fuel types. It will be interesting to see how this translates to increased sales momentum in the run-up to the end-of-year result in December,” he says.
Toyota was the market leader, with 18,471 sales in October, followed by Ford (8581), Mazda (7656), Hyundai (7086), and Kia (6602).
The Toyota RAV4 was Australia’s top-selling vehicle, with 4841 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger (4757), Toyota Hilux (4523), Ford Everest (2668), and Isuzu Ute D-Max (2295).
Sales in the Australian Capital Territory were down 16.4% to 1298 in October 2023; New South Wales was down 12.1% to 29,014; the Northern Territory was up 15.3% to 853; Queensland decreased by 1.7% to 21,557; South Australia also reduced by 7.1% to 6205; Tasmania decreased by 20.1% to 1594; Victoria decreased 14.4% to 26,317, and Western Australia increased by 13.5% to 11,537.
