Home

SUVs drive new-car sales

Olga de MoellerThe West Australian
The Isuzu MU-X was the biggest seller in the large SUV segment in WA.
Camera IconThe Isuzu MU-X was the biggest seller in the large SUV segment in WA. Credit: Image archive

WA’s new-car market continued its resurgence in March, with sales up 30.5 per cent compared with last year.

In all, 9514 vehicles were sold — 4689 of these SUVs — with the positive result reflected across all States and Territories, apart from the ACT, which was down by 43.8 per cent.

Nationally, there were 100,005 new vehicle sales, an increase of 22.4 per cent on March 2020 (81,690), with the passenger vehicle market down by 423 vehicle sales (-1.9 per cent) and the SUV segment up by 12,543 vehicle sales (32 per cent), followed by light commercial vehicles (up by 28.0 per cent).

Eight of the top-10 selling vehicles for the month were SUVs or light commercials, driven by increasing demand from private buyers.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

The big leader was heavy commercial vehicle sales, which were up 42.8 per cent nationally and 22 per cent in WA.

Toyota continued to be the market leader nationally, followed by Mazda and Hyundai — and WA was no exception.

A whopping 2448 Toyotas were sold this side of the border, followed by 806 Mazdas, and 721 Hyundais.

Medium SUVs were popular as ever here, with the Nissan X-Trail narrowly beating the popular Toyota RAV4 to take top spot in this ultra-competitive segment, followed by the Mazda CX-5 — though nationally, the X-Trail was the third best seller, with the RAV4 number one.

The Isuzu MU-X was the biggest seller in the large SUV segment, followed by the Subaru Outback (the most popular model nationally), then the Toyota Prado.

WA’s love affair with 4x4 Utes continued, accounting for 20.9 per cent of market share in March, with the Toyota HiLux holding top spot, followed by the Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton and Toyota LandCruiser pick-up/cab chassis just pipping the Isuzu D-Max by three sales.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said new-vehicle sales continued to show growth as the economy gradually emerged from the economic impacts of COVID-19.

“This is the strongest March result in two years with private buyers representing the largest proportion of new vehicle purchasers,” Mr Weber said.

“It is possible that the result could have been even stronger if some brands had not been impacted by delivery constraints in global factory supply chains.”

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails