After years or remarkable growth, Australian brand-new car sales are now beginning to drop. As per the statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday, an overall of 97,636 new automobiles were sold during January in seasonally changed terms, drop of 0.8% on the levels of a year previously.
Passenger automobiles sales are at 39,822, slightly higher than SUVs at 37,667. Sales of other automobiles dropped to 20,146.
While 0.8% isn’t much in the, and sales did lift 0.6% in January from the levels reported in December, the year-on-year decline was the biggest since December 2014.
In September 2015, sales rose as much as 7% from the levels of a year previously.
By classification, passenger vehicle sales dropped by 1.3% from January 2016, exceeded by a 4.7% drop for “other” automobiles.
Even sales of 4x4s have reduced sharply, increasing by only 1.8% over the past year.
The sales in this category frequently topped over 15% yearly in recent years.
And the downturn in sales– not just for SUVs however overall automobiles– can be seen in the chart.
It’s yearly car sales by specific category on a rolling 12-month basis.
Over the past 12 months, 1,175,707 automobiles were sold, an increase of 1.4% on the level observed in the year to January in 2016.
It was the slowest yearly percentage growth since April 2015.
By classification, 484,094 passenger vehicles were sold during the last 12 months, down 5.3% on levels of a year previously. Sales of SUVs and other automobiles stood at 441,457 and 250,157 respectively, rise of 6.2% and 7.3% from the levels observed in the 12 months to January in 2016.
The downturn in all categories except other automobiles can be found in the chart.
As for the factor behind the recent moderation, it’s possible that financial aspects might have played a role, especially with Commsec reporting that brand-new vehicle affordability is presently the best it’s ever been.
