AUSTRALIANS are moving away from small passenger cars according to the latest VFACTS figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
A total of 102,901 sales were made in May, which is up by 6.4 per cent on May 2016 and takes the year-to-date tally to 465,381 – which is just 0.9 per cent down on last year.
Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger again claimed the top spots in May with 4,154 and 4,069 units respectively, and increasing their sales by 13 and 30.6 per cent on the same month last year.
In recent years, the top performing category was the small passenger car, which includes the likes of Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30 and Mazda 3.
Although these models remain in the top 10 selling cars, all three have taken a big dent in their sales figures and are the only cars in the top 10 not to have increased their numbers.
Third ranked Corolla sold 3,168 units last month, down 5.2 per cent on last year, while i30 dropped by 28.9 per cent to 2,683 and Mazda 3 took a 20 per cent hit to 2,594 units.
Hyundai’s hit in this segment is especially surprising given the launch of its new i30 last month.
SUVs accounted for 38.5 per cent of the market with passenger vehicles at 37.7 and light commercial vehicles claiming just of a fifth of the market with 20.6 per cent.
