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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.

Business purchases last month were 46,679, a 12 per cent increase on a year ago. Ute, van and light trucks surged 26.9 per cent compared to June 2008.

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

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