Australia total sales of vehicles rose 0.4% in the year-ended May 2017, reaching 1,174,431 vehicles, with recent sales showing that passenger vehicles have gained a little ground after declining continuously for several years.
Regardless of some monthly sales improvements, shown in the following chart (the blue bars), passenger vehicle sales totaled 472,300 units, down a solid 6.0% on the prior year.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
For the year-ended May, passenger vehicles accounted for 40.2% of all sales down from 42.9% a year ago.
Looking back at this data series, to 1997, we can see – in the following chart – that passenger vehicles once drove the Australian new vehicle market. For the year ended May 1997, they totaled 502,253 vehicles and accounted for 75.2% of all new vehicle sales.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
The big change has arisen because of the cars Australians buy – the trucks are not considered passenger vehicles even though they are used for little else in many cases. The other reason is that many vehicles are entitled for diesel fuel rebates and are classed as non-passenger vehicles.
Total vehicle sales continue to grow, but those transporting people are an ever smaller proportion of the total. Go figure that next time you are stuck on a freeway!
