New car sales rebound in May

New car sales bounced back in May after a lean April, renewing hope of another record year.

Sales in May hit 102,901, which was a nearly 20,000 unit increase on the previous and a 6.4 per cent increase on May 2016. 

Australia's love of utes and SUVs helped drive the growth with the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger once again the two most popular new models. 

As has been the trend this year, SUVs continue to be the most popular segment of the market, with a 38.5 per cent share in May, ahead of passenger cars (37.7 per cent) and light commercial vehicles (20.7 per cent).

Overall the market is now at 465,381 sales year-to-date which is just 0.9 per cent behind the same period in 2016.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive, Tony Weber, credited the looming end of financial year as a key factory in the strong result.

Toyota's dominance in the market continues with the HiLux backed up by the Corolla (the third best-selling vehicle overall), Camry (seventh) and LandCruiser (eighth).

The success of Ranger and continued interest in Mustang (1351 sales) helped Ford overtake Holden for the month and move into fourth place behind Toyota, Mazda and Hyundai.

Even Rolls-Royce enjoyed a successful month, finding five buyers for its luxury cars which takes its year-to-date sales to 12.

Top 10 brands - May 2017

1. Toyota - 19,876

2. Mazda - 9093

3. Hyundai - 8312

4. Ford - 7617

5. Holden - 6917

6. Mitsubishi - 6521

7. Nissan - 5083

8. Volkswagen - 5080

9. Kia - 5005

10. Subaru - 4146

Top 10 models - May 2017

1. Toyota HiLux - 4154

2. Ford Ranger - 4069

3. Toyota Corolla - 3160

4. Hyundai i30 - 2683

5. Mazda3 - 2594

6. Mazda CX-5 - 2298

7. Toyota Camry - 2233

8. Toyota LandCruiser - 2137 

9. Hyundai Tucson - 2135

10. Nissan X-Trail - 1992

Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.