Australian car sales jumped sharply in April as buyers ignored the impact of five interest rate rises that had made many of them more hesitant when going to shopping malls.
Figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that 81,401 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were sold in April, up 27.3% (or 17,436 vehicles) on the same month in 2009.
The result showed across the board rises, with Hyundai standing out with a 62.6% surge in sales in April from a year ago.
Hyundai sales are up 65% in the first four months of 2010.
Holden was also solid, sales rising 27.3%, matching the market, Ford 19.8%, and Toyota just over 28%.
Sales of the Ford Falcon rose 24% in the month.
Business sales of four wheel drives were up by more than 50% in April, and Toyota’s Hi Lux outsold the Holden Commodore for the first time.
Sales of diesel cars continue to rise. The latest car sales figures from the industry show diesel’s share of sales in April was 26%, two share points higher than a year ago and for the first four months of the year, the share was also up 2 points to around 25%.
Diesel models now make up around 18% of all private sales.
Hybrid sales are very low by comparison with the new Toyota Camry hybrid struggling to attract buyers and the Prius going off the boil.
Toyota had been hoping for sales of around 10,000 petrol-electric Camry hybrids a year, with fleet and government buyers expected to show the major interest.
No go: sales are averaging 560 a month or an annual rate of just under 7,000.
But at least sales of these are growing, the older Toyota Prius is no longer green machine of the month.
Its sales have fallen 27%, in a market up 20% in the first four months of year, and with diesels taking much of their business.
VW saw sales jump 31.7%, while its luxury Audi brand also had a strong month.
Among the luxury models, Audi did best with a 30.3% lift in April, Mercedes saw a 24.8% rise, but BMW lagged behind reporting sales up just 10.2% over April 2009.
The SUV segment again did best in April with an increase of 38%, followed by passenger cars (up 28.5%), light commercials (up 15.7%) and heavy commercials up 5.4%.
Toyota retained the top selling position in April with a market share of 20.5%; followed by Holden with 12.2% and then Ford with 10.1%.
Year-to-date, 333,228 vehicles have been sold, up 20.3% compared to the first four months of 2009 and the second best figure on record after 2008.
