Please find below for your convenience key extracts from The Australian Bureau of Statistics with regards to Sales of New Motor Vehicles in Australia, for March 2011.

Total New Motor Vehicle Sales

  • Trend - The March 2011 trend estimate (85,462) has increased by 0.2% when compared with February 2011.
  • Seasonally Adjusted - The March 2011 seasonally adjusted estimate for new motor vehicle sales (87,141) increased by 3.4% when compared with February 2011.

Sales by Type of Vehicle

  • Trend - When comparing national trend estimates for March 2011 with February 2011, sales of passenger vehicles decreased by 0.7%. Sports utility vehicles and other vehicles increased by 0.7% and 1.7% respectively over the same period.
  • Seasonally Adjusted - When comparing seasonally adjusted estimates for March 2011 with February 2011, sales of passenger vehicles, sports utility vehicles and other vehicles increased by 1.3%, 7.8% and 4.3% respectively.

Sales by State

  • Five of the eight states and territories have experienced a decrease in the trend estimate for new motor vehicle sales when comparing March 2011 with February 2011.
  • Tasmania recorded the largest percentage decrease with 2.6%, followed by the Northern Territory (0.9%) and South Australia (0.8%). Queensland recorded the largest percentage increase of 1.1% over the same period.
  • In seasonally adjusted terms, sales of new motor vehicles increased in five of the eight states and territories for March 2011 when compared with February 2011. The Northern Territory recorded the largest percentage increase of 9.9%, followed by New South Wales and Queensland, both 6.7%. Over the same period South Australia recorded the largest percentage decrease of 2.9%.

Impact of the Floods

  • The impact of recent flooding and cyclone events on new motor vehicles sales is beginning to show in trend estimates for Queensland. For both February and March 2011, Queensland recorded the largest increase in the trend estimate (1.0% and 1.1% respectively).
  • It is expected that the flooding events will continue to have an impact on sales in both Queensland and a number of other states over the next few months as damaged vehicles are replaced.

For more detailed information visit http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/9314.0?OpenDocument

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