FOR SOME YEARS, it seemed new car sales in Australia would just keep on increasing, but the trend seems to have stalled.

The FCAI (Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries) reports that new vehicle sales for March were 99,442, a 7.1 percent decrease (7546 vehicles).

Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, blamed “current economic conditions”. Since indicators are that consumer confidence has been rising, it will be interesting to see what April brings.

One trend that hasn’t changed is our appetite for light commercial vehicles: Toyota’s HiLux continues on as the biggest seller (4527 sales) while Ford’s Ranger (3721) and Mitsubishi Triton (2666) also performed strongly.

Of the top ten selling vehicles, only three were passenger vehicles. SUVs and LCVs (light commercial vehicles) accounted for 67.5 percent of new vehicle sales during March, 4.5 percent higher than March 2018. Year to date, passenger vehicle sales are down 17.8 percent, compared to SUV sales down 3.5 percent and LCVs down 0.4 percent.

Only South Australia and Tasmania recoded an increase in new vehicle sales (9.4 and 6.2 percent respectively).