Car Sales up in December 09 : 3.3% for the month, 17% for the year

Sales of new automobiles have been maintained over a difficult year. Seasonally adjusted, car sales are up by 3.3% over the December month and 17.2% for the year. This growth was mainly in NSW and SA, both of which increased by 22.1% for the year. SUV's (36.7% growth over the year) and "Other Vehicles (38.6% growth over the year) lead the charge

However further investigation of the figures ensure that the growth is mainly coming through SUV's and "Other Vehicles" (which include commercial trucks, vans etc). This can be tied to the government's stimulus 50% tax rebate for plant and vehicles that was implimented to hold up business investment. By contrast, passenger cars have been growing at a much smaller rate over the years (decreased 1.6% in december, increase of 3% over the year). But this is an ongoing trend over the years. Check out the graph below detailing changes in the purchase of automobiles over the last 20 years