Fleet Purchases in Australia Bolster November Vehicle Sales

New vehicle sales in Australia surpassed one million in November 2017, which was bolstered partially by strong sales to businesses.

New vehicle sales records have been reported for seven of the 11 months up to November 2017, according to a Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ VFACTS report. Business purchases of SUVs and light commercials rose by 12.9% and 14.6%, respectively, for the month of November. Conversely, sales to private buyers fell 3.4%

In November 2017, light commercial sales were up 7.9% compared with November 2016, according to the report. The total number of sales for November reached 101,365, which was a gain of 2.5% on the same month last year. Meanwhile, SUV sales for the month overall were up 8.6%.

Toyota remained the market leader with an 18.6% share of the November sales, and the Toyota Hilux pickup was Australia’s best-selling vehicle in November with 4,103 sales, according to the report. This was followed by the Ford Ranger (3,576), the Toyota Corolla (2,959), Mazda3 (2,464) and the Mazda CX-5 (2,358).