Australians' love for big vehicles continues to fuel new car sales, with utes topping the charts and SUVs making up three in every five purchases.
But motorists are still putting the brakes on vehicle buys as sales slowed by a small margin in May, according to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and the Electric Vehicle Council on Wednesday.
Only hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles managed to steer around the slowdown, with significant drops for diesel and petrol-powered cars.
The findings come two months after plug-in hybrid vehicles lost a tax exemption, and despite persistently flat sales for electric vehicles this year.
Australians purchased more than 109,000 new vehicles during May down from more than 111,000 during the same month in 2024.
But the tally was the second highest recorded this year and FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said it showed supply and demand for vehicles was strong.
"The results reflect a market that remains resilient and competitive by historic standards," he said.
"The fundamentals of the market remain robust, with strong competition and consumer interest across a range of vehicle types."
SUVs dominated new vehicle sales during the month, and grew by 6.6 per cent to represent more than 60 per cent of all cars sold.
By comparison, passenger vehicle sales fell by 33 per cent and light commercial vehicle sales , such as utes and vans, fell by seven per cent.
Sales of diesel and petrol-powered vehicles also fell by 1.1 per cent and nine per cent respectively.
Despite changes to fringe-benefits tax exemptions, low-emission vehicles remained a popular choice in May, with sales of plug-in hybrid cars doubling compared to last year (3081) and hybrid sales up by 5.5 per cent (17,089).
Electric cars also climbed during May to top 10,000 sales – a rise of 12.1 per cent compared to the year before – helping them to represent nine per cent of all new vehicles sold.
Fortunes were mixed for electric vehicle market leader Tesla, however, as the company registered a sales rebound based on deliveries of its updated Model Y during May but sales of its Model 3 fell.
The company, headed by controversial outgoing US government figure Elon Musk, recorded a sales boost of nine per cent for the month but a fall of 48 per cent for the year.
Utes claimed the top two spots on the best-selling list for May, with the Toyota HiLux nudging out competition from the Ford Ranger, while seven of the top 10 spots were claimed by SUV models.
Labor's win in the recent federal election will rule out proposed changes to the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, which is expected to introduce penalties for brands exceeding emission targets in July.
But the automotive industry has joined with the European Australian Business Council to call for the government to reach a free trade agreement with the European Union to remove the luxury car tax and tariffs to make vehicles cheaper, Mr Weber said.
