2002 Austrailian Vehicle Sales UP

SYDNEY, Jan 8, 2003; Reuters reported that new motor vehicle sales for calendar 2002 reached 824,309 units, beating the previous record of 807,669 set in 1998, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said in its monthly VFACT report on Wednesday.

Details of December retail sales for the automotive industry are as follows:

December November m/m pct December 01 y/y pct Sales 67,973 71,775 -5.0 69,031 -1.5

December had 1.7 selling days less than November, which translated to an increase, in daily rate terms, of 47.2 vehicles per day or 1.7 percent.

It had the same number of selling days as December 2001, resulting in a decrease of 44.1 vehicles per day.

Total vehicle sales in 2002 at 824,309 were up 51,628 or 6.7 percent on 2001. With 0.3 less of a selling day in 2002 compared with 2001, the daily selling rate rose by 172.8 vehicles per day or 6.8 percent.

Sales Type: Dec 02/Dec 01 2002/2001

Volume Pct Change Volume Pct Change

Passenger Vehicles -2,876 -6.0 +10,788 +2.0

Light Truck +1,504 +7.9 +36,187 +16.1

Heavy Commercial +314 +18.2 +4,653 +24.5

Toyota <7203.T> clinched top sales position in December having sold 14,046 vehicles, pushing Holden <GM.N>, with sales of 13,001 vehicles, to second spot. Ford <F.N> took third place with 9,432.

Holden, however, was the leader for 2002 with a market share of 21.6 percent, followed by Toyota with 19.2 percent, and Ford with 13.2 percent.