KINGSTON, Australia — Australia’s auto market is on track to sell more than one million vehicles this year, with a strong performance in May.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) claims 100,809 cars and trucks were retailed last month, taking the demand for the first five months of 2021 to 456,804.
The May result was a 68 percent improvement in the same month last year when the sector was severely impacted by the first wave of Covid-19 lockdowns.
But it was also an 8.9 percent improvement on the May performance in 2019.
FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber claims that the result showed that confidence in the national economy and pent-up demand across all sectors were strong enough to counter issues related to the pandemic.
“While we cannot be certain about the future economic impacts of the Covid-19 situation, businesses and households are showing their confidence by purchasing new vehicles,” he said.
“I expect this situation will continue to improve in the second half of this calendar year as confidence continues to grow, coupled with incentives announced in the federal budget.”
However, the June result is likely to be impacted somewhat by the continued virus lockdown in Melbourne, which is entering a second week.
FCAI has tweeted about the details in the form of a video on Twitter. “Businesses and households are showing their confidence by purchasing new vehicles — FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber,” read the tweet.
The video in the tweet further explains about the record of 100,809 vehicles that were sold in May 2021. The sales have increased by 68.3 percent since May 2020. The video further claims that the new vehicle industry is on track to return sales of over 1 million new vehicles for 2021.
Toyota was the market-leading company in May with sales of 21,156, ahead of Mazda on 10,554 and Kia on 7124.
Toyota also had the top-selling vehicle with demand across its Hi-Lux range reaching 4402, ahead of the Ford Ranger on 4254 and the Toyota Rav 4 on 4014.
The Passenger Vehicle Market is up by 6,379 vehicle sales (46.1 percent) over the same month last year; the Sports Utility Market is up by 24,956 vehicle sales (87.1 percent); the Light Commercial Market is up by 8,386 vehicle sales (56.7 percent), and the Heavy Commercial Vehicle Market is up by 1,194 vehicle sales (45.7 percent) versus May 2020.
The sports utility segment continues to be the strongest across the industry, accounting for more than half of all sales last month.
(Edited by Vaibhav Vishwanath Pawar and Pallavi Mehra)
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