WA Worst Performing State Car Sales in May

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'Latest sales figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show the WA new car market continues to struggle, despite national sales being up on last year.

In keeping with recent trends, car sales in Australia to the end of last month grew 3.8 per cent year-on-year with 469,571 units moved, with some States including New South Wales (up 8.5 per cent) and the ACT (up 5 per cent) seeing significant improvements on last year.

Tasmania (-1.5 per cent) and the Northern Territory (-1.0) are slightly down, though WA is easily the worst performer.

Sales for the month of May were down 5 per cent on last year and are down 3.7 per cent for the year so far.

In fact, you have to go back to June 2013 to find the last time sales were up for the month when compared with the previous year.

Sales to the end of May that year, meanwhile, were 52,177 — meaning this year’s 41,176 is a 21 per cent drop over those past three years.

The decline was felt across most car segments, with passenger cars losing buyers most dramatically in the upper large (-24.7 per cent), light (-23.1), large (-19.8) and medium (-11.6) classes.

Even the supposedly booming baby SUV segment has struggled so far this year, falling 3.6 per cent, while large SUVs (-7.8) and 4×2 utes (-8.7) are also struggling.

But SUVs as a whole continue to outsell passenger cars in WA. SUV sales across all variations are up 3.8 per cent on last year, thanks mainly to medium SUVs continuing to win buyers in droves.

Medium SUV sales grew 23.2 per cent in the first five months of the year, led by drastic improvements from popular nameplates such as the Subaru Forester (up 61.5 per cent) and Mitsubishi Outlander (52.7).

The Hyundai Tucson has clearly been a hit since its arrival, with its 942 sales in 2016 making it the most popular medium SUV in WA.

The sports-car segment is also up significantly, due almost entirely to the Ford Mustang.

The pony car has found 216 homes in WA so far this year, well clear of the second-most popular sports car, the Mazda MX-5 with 77.

We still love our 4×4 dual-cabs and Hyundais in WA, with the Toyota HiLux (as always) our most popular vehicle so far this year and the Ford Ranger coming in third.

As well as the Tucson succeeding, the Hyundai i30 surged ahead of the Toyota Corolla and Mazda3 to be the bestselling small car.

The i30 was the top-selling car in the country in May, the third straight month it has topped national sales.

It’s mostly a good time to be a luxury brand in WA, with BMW (up 12.3 per cent), Jaguar (87.9 per cent) and Mercedes-Benz (24.7) all boasting gains compared with this time last year, though Audi (-4.8), Lexus (-2.6) and Porsche (9.4) are all down.

Toyota maintains its stranglehold at the top-selling manufacturer in WA, with its 8338 sales this year miles above Hyundai (4444) and Mazda (3611).



WA’s top sellers in 2016

Brands

1. Toyota — 8338

2. Hyundai — 4444

3. Mazda — 3611

4. Holden — 3077

5. Ford — 3044



Models

1. Toyota HiLux — 1878

2. Hyundai i30 — 1731

3. Ford Ranger — 1559

4. Toyota Corolla — 1330

5. Mazda3 — 1097

Read more at http://westwheels.caradvice.com.au/1...JamyfHyaT5R.99