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March Vehicle Sales VFACTS

New vehicle sales took a hit in March, as you might expect, although it wasn't the cataclysmic drop some might have projected.

VFACTS data compiled by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries released today shows that car sales fell by 17.9 per cent compared to March last year, to 81,690 sales.

You have to return to 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis, to find a lower figure for March. That year there were 75,650 new cars sold.

March is historically the second-biggest month of the year for new car sales – because it is the lead-up to the end of the Japanese financial year.

The March monthly result represents the 24th consecutive month of negative growth for the automotive industry in Australia. That means constant month-on-month declines since early 2018.

Sales for quarter one of the 2020 calendar year sit at 233,361 units, down 13.1 per cent. This means that the market is tracking to fall shy of a million sales annually.