SYDNEY: Sales of new vehicles in Australia rose in November, compared to the same month last year, with strength in sports utility and truck sales a sign of resilience in consumer and business spending.
The Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said sales in November were up 1.5 percent on last year at 88,654. That was 4.1 percent higher than sales in October, though adjusted for seasonal factors VFACTS estimated sales fell by 2.9 percent.
Sales of sport utility vehicles extended their barnstorming run with a jump of 16.2 percent, compared to November last year, on top of healthy increases in the previous three months.
Sales of light and heavy trucks also boasted solid gains, pointing to healthy business investment.
For the year so far, sales of 925,978 are down 2.4 percent on the same period of 2010.
The market took a knock earlier in the year when natural disasters in Japan cut the supply of new vehicles, but sales have recovered smartly in the last few months.
Toyota again took first place in the sales ladder with 19.7 percent of the market in November, though its share for the year so far is still down on 2010.
The Holden unit of GM took 11.0 percent of the market in November, while Ford and Mazda tied for third with 9.1 percent. Hyundai followed with 8.5 percent.
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