Business & Finance

Australia new vehicle sales jump in August

SYDNEY : Sales of new vehicles in Australia jumped for a second straight month in August as imports of Japanese cars rec

Published September 5, 2011 Updated September 5, 2011 05:17am

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By Shoaib Ur Rehman

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The Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries estimated that sales rose a seasonally adjusted 4.3 percent in August, on top of a double-digit increase in July.

Sales were up 7.3 percent on August last year, a marked improvement from July when they were still down 1.7 percent on the year. Back in June, the annual drop had been 11.6 percent.

Notably, sales of sport utility vehicles were up over 19 percent on August last year, suggesting domestic demand in the economy was holding up a lot better than some had feared.

In raw terms, total vehicle sales of 88,082 were up 8.8 percent on July. For the year so far, sales of 655,309 vehicles are down 4.4 percent on the same period of 2010.

Toyota's sales continued to recover after supplies of its cars took a particularly hard knock from the earthquake and tsunami. The company held 18 percent of the Australian market in August, up from 16 percent in July and 13 percent in June.

The Holden unit of GM took 13.1 percent of the market in August, while Mazda jumped to third spot with 10.4 percent. Ford dropped to third with 9.5 percent, followed by Hyundai at 8.4 percent.

For the year to date, Toyota still tops the sales table followed by Holden and Ford.

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