Car sales lift for June

The Federal Government's small business stimulus package is credited with having a positive impact on vehicle sales, despite the fact that the half-way mark is customarily a strong retail month.

GM-Holden's executive director of sales and marketing, Alan Batey, summed it up for everyone. "We expected June to be strong but it was better than expected," he says.

The strength of the market even surprise some leading carmakers and importers.

The small business investment allowance helped push utes like the Toyota HiLux to number one seller, ahead of the country's best-selling large cars, the Holden Commodore.

Toyota sold 4756 HiLuxes, just 8 more than the Commodore. It is the third time in the past 18 months the HiLux has outsold the Commodore, the most recent being October. The Commodore's tally of 4748 vehicles included 1715 Sportwagons.

Holden's new small car, the Cruze, also had a confident start, with 873 heading out of showrooms.

Tradies and recreational buyers also swamped Mitsubishi and Nissan dealers for their Triton and Navara utes while Ford and Holden utes were also popular.

Mitsubishi sold 3043 Tritons and Nissan 2568 Navaras while Ford sold 1491 Falcon utes and Holden 1577 Commodore utes. The Triton result was an all-time record for Mitsubishi.

But it is the HiLux that continues to dominates the 4x2 and 4x4 ute segments. It has a 23 per cent share of the 4x2 segment and a 27 per cent share of the 4x4 pickup segment.

Apart from the Toyota ute the Yaris and Corolla, are helping firm Toyota's position as market leader this year.Toyota sold 4066 Corollas and 2194 Yarises in June.

Budget buyers also gave Hyundai dealers reason to smile.

The i30 and Getz continue to secure a strong place in the hearts of cash-conscious buyers. Hyundai sold 2742 i30s and 2263 Getzes.

Toyota Australia's senior executive director, David Buttner, says that based on June's figures and overall consumer confidence, there is cause for optimism for the rest of the year.

The June volume of 102,847 vehicles is down 3694 sales or 3.5 per cent on June 2008 (106,541 vehicles).

But it is the third highest monthly volume achievement on record.

So far this year 455,223 vehicles have been sold, which is down on the same period last year by 16.1 per cent or 87,742 vehicles.

Top 10 Brands	June	2009 (YTD
Toyota	21,410	94,233
Holden	12,167	56,152
Ford	10,194	46,456
Mazda	8406	38,603
Hyundai	7862	29,935
Mitsubishi	6912	27,063
Nissan	6050	26,954
Honda	4354	22,350
Subaru	3757	19,009
Volkswagen	4068	15,934

Top 20 Vehicles	June 2009	(YTD)
Toyota HiLux	4756	19,113
Holden Commodore	4748	21,587
Toyota Corolla	4066	17,573
Mazda3	3741	18,196
Ford Falcon	3410	14,490
Mitsubishi Triton	3043	10,016
Hyundai i30	2742	9904
Nissan Navara	2568	9884
Hyundai Getz	2263	9526
Toyota Yaris	2194	10,098
Mitsubishi Lancer	1904	8672
Toyota Camry	1783	8443
Holden Colorado	1676	7358
Toyota Aurion	1628	6588
Holden Utility	1577	5823
Subaru Impreza	1568	6855
Subaru Forester	1506	7550
Ford Falcon Ute	1491	5760
Ford Ranger	1464	6386
Hyundai Tucson	1446	5286
Toyota Prado	1442	6336
Toyota RAV4	1341	6142
Volkswagen Golf	1340	6293
Mazda BT-50	1327	5084
Ford Territory	1259	5021
Toyota Kluger	1255	5929
Suzuki Swift	1208	5905
Mazda2	1202	6464
Holden Captiva	1093	5014