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This publication presents monthly information on sales of new motor vehicles in each state/territory in original, seasonally adjusted and trend estimated terms. The original data are sourced from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Sales data are available for passenger vehicles, other vehicles and total vehicles at the state/territory and national levels.


FEBRUARY 2003 KEY POINTS


Trend

The trend estimate for new motor vehicle sales increased by 0.8% in February 2003 compared with January 2003. This is the fourth consecutive month of trend increases. Passenger vehicle sales continued eight months of positive growth with an increase of 0.8% in February 2003 compared with January 2003.

All states and territories recorded increases in the trend series for sales of new motor vehicles in February 2003. South Australia had the highest growth with 2.8%.


Seasonally adjusted

Seasonally adjusted estimates decreased by 8.0% in February 2003 compared with January 2003 following unusually high January 2003 sales. The seasonally adjusted sales of new motor vehicles have returned to September 2002 levels. Seasonally adjusted sales of passenger and other vehicles decreased 5.8% and 11.8% respectively between January 2003 and February 2003.

NOTES

DATA QUALITY

Due to a processing problem with the data supplier for heavy truck sales, other vehicles were understated by 367 units in July 2002. These missing units have been included in the August 2002 sales data for other vehicles. The impact on the original series is as follows: New South Wales (119 units), Victoria (63 units), Queensland (84 units), South Australia (18 units), Western Australia (65 units), Tasmania (14 units) and the Northern Territory (4 units).


TREND REVISIONS

The most recent trend estimates are likely to be revised when new seasonally adjusted estimates become available. For further information see Explanatory Notes 9 and 10.

The graph below presents the effect of two possible scenarios on the previous trend estimates.

Table 1: New Motor Vehicle Sales

		Passenger vehicles (No.)	Other vehicles (a) (No.)	Total vehicles (No.)	Change Passenger vehicles (%)	Change Other vehicles (%)	Change Total vehicles (%)
Original
2001	December	48,193	20,838	69,031	1.4	-10.4	-2.4
2002	January	39,779	18,778	58,557	-17.5	-9.9	-15.2
	February	42,776	22,019	64,795	7.5	17.3	10.7
	March	44,828	22,996	67,824	4.8	4.4	4.7
	April	42,052	21,834	63,886	-6.2	-5.1	-5.8
	May	46,448	26,675	73,123	10.5	22.2	14.5
	June	49,101	29,680	78,781	5.7	11.3	7.7
	July	45,923	23,859	69,782	-6.5	-19.6	-11.4
	August	45,122	24,525	69,647	-1.7	2.8	-0.2
	September	43,396	22,638	66,034	-3.8	-7.7	-5.2
	October	48,269	24,063	72,332	11.2	6.3	9.5
	November	47,229	24,346	71,575	-2.2	1.2	-1.0
	December	45,317	22,656	67,973	-4.0	-6.9	-5.0
2003	January	40,015	21,155	61,170	-11.7	-6.6	-10.0
	February	43,677	23,058	66,735	9.2	9.0	9.1
Seasonally Adjusted
2001	December	46,133	20,054	66,187	5.2	-8.5	0.6
2002	January	49,079	24,810	73,889	6.4	23.7	11.6
	February	45,699	23,668	69,367	-6.9	-4.6	-6.1
	March	43,408	21,857	65,265	-5.0	-7.7	-5.9
	April	45,648	23,651	69,299	5.2	8.2	6.2
	May	45,401	24,316	69,717	-0.5	2.8	0.6
	June	44,705	23,749	68,454	-1.5	-2.3	-1.8
	July	44,390	24,048	68,438	-0.7	1.3	0.0
	August	45,301	25,217	70,518	2.1	4.9	3.0
	September	45,947	25,194	71,141	1.4	-0.1	0.9
	October	45,791	24,955	70,746	-0.3	-0.9	-0.6
	November	45,464	23,406	68,870	-0.7	-6.2	-2.7
	December	41,865	20,783	62,648	-7.9	-11.2	-9.0
2003	January	49,584	28,103	77,687	18.4	35.2	24.0
	February	46,685	24,775	71,460	-5.8	-11.8	-8.0
Trend
2001	December	45,425	22,214	67,639	1.1	1.5	1.3
2002	January	45,785	22,601	68,386	0.8	1.7	1.1
	February	45,873	22,979	68,852	0.2	1.7	0.7
	March	45,672	23,291	68,963	-0.4	1.4	0.2
	April	45,308	23,555	68,863	-0.8	1.1	-0.1
	May	44,990	23,834	68,824	-0.7	1.2	-0.1
	June	44,971	24,216	69,187	0.0	1.6	0.5
	July	45,060	24,484	69,544	0.2	1.1	0.5
	August	45,126	24,581	69,707	0.1	0.4	0.2
	September	45,140	24,450	69,590	0.0	-0.5	-0.2
	October	45,245	24,288	69,533	0.2	-0.7	-0.1
	November	45,471	24,242	69,713	0.5	-0.2	0.3
	December	45,781	24,323	70,104	0.7	0.3	0.6
2003	January	46,174	24,524	70,698	0.9	0.8	0.8
	February	46,546	24,750	71,296	0.8	0.9	0.8
(a) Other vehicle figures for July 2002 and August 2002 have been affected by reporting problems. See Notes.

		NSW (No.)	Vic. (No.)	Qld (No.)	SA (No.)	WA (No.)	Tas. (No.)	NT (No.)	ACT (No.)	Aust. (No.)
Original
2001	December	22,979	19,502	12,045	4,379	6,649	1,873	571	1,033	69,031
2002	January	20,414	15,658	10,737	3,727	5,481	989	525	1,026	58,557
	February	22,108	17,336	12,252	4,168	6,159	1,090	553	1,129	64,795
	March	23,923	18,330	12,694	4,224	5,880	1,093	658	1,022	67,824
	April	22,428	17,250	11,671	3,985	5,642	1,103	624	1,183	63,886
	May	25,763	19,540	13,507	4,648	6,344	1,343	763	1,215	73,123
	June	27,496	20,296	15,035	5,143	7,348	1,294	813	1,356	78,781
	July	24,643	18,721	13,462	4,457	5,562	1,174	579	1,184	69,782
	August	23,456	18,942	13,516	4,537	6,102	1,311	597	1,186	69,647
	September	22,236	18,765	12,497	4,187	5,493	1,239	507	1,110	66,034
	October	24,618	20,185	13,456	4,499	6,627	1,203	580	1,164	72,332
	November	24,349	19,829	13,224	4,641	6,320	1,398	628	1,186	71,575
	December	21,741	19,706	12,672	4,531	5,989	1,584	585	1,165	67,973
2003	January	20,648	16,490	11,632	3,988	5,762	1,025	534	1,091	61,170
	February	21,965	18,152	12,956	4,754	6,164	1,069	582	1,093	66,735
Seasonally Adjusted
2001	December	22,558	18,453	11,506	4,120	6,647	1,268	613	1,022	66,187
2002	January	25,864	19,891	13,486	4,883	6,524	1,322	673	1,246	73,889
	February	23,890	18,492	12,906	4,483	6,441	1,305	638	1,212	69,367
	March	23,102	18,035	12,072	4,118	5,233	1,144	605	956	65,265
	April	24,378	18,490	12,743	4,359	6,140	1,254	609	1,326	69,299
	May	24,448	18,804	12,968	4,370	6,041	1,315	659	1,112	69,717
	June	23,768	18,491	12,265	4,448	6,334	1,299	634	1,215	68,454
	July	23,332	18,419	13,518	4,360	5,904	1,210	586	1,109	68,438
	August	24,094	18,986	13,768	4,427	6,190	1,256	617	1,180	70,518
	September	23,778	19,665	13,771	4,581	6,154	1,292	596	1,304	71,141
	October	24,025	19,026	13,887	4,434	6,434	1,225	588	1,127	70,746
	November	23,130	19,251	12,847	4,426	6,192	1,289	617	1,118	68,870
	December	20,809	17,721	11,628	4,138	5,564	1,080	611	1,097	62,648
2003	January	26,458	21,064	14,557	5,236	6,981	1,359	673	1,359	77,687
	February	23,770	19,372	13,648	5,110	6,444	1,271	674	1,171	71,460
Trend
2001	December	23,583	18,486	12,236	4,206	6,053	1,276	635	1,164	67,639
2002	January	23,824	18,643	12,457	4,247	6,139	1,281	636	1,159	68,386
	February	24,019	18,700	12,589	4,285	6,193	1,275	635	1,156	68,852
	March	24,115	18,635	12,649	4,316	6,198	1,263	633	1,154	68,963
	April	24,087	18,536	12,696	4,342	6,159	1,257	629	1,157	68,863
	May	23,989	18,500	12,805	4,366	6,114	1,259	624	1,167	68,824
	June	23,956	18,618	13,039	4,401	6,111	1,265	619	1,178	69,187
	July	23,878	18,779	13,283	4,419	6,126	1,267	611	1,181	69,544
	August	23,737	18,919	13,443	4,418	6,144	1,261	604	1,181	69,707
	September	23,540	19,005	13,448	4,418	6,155	1,249	600	1,175	69,590
	October	23,432	19,091	13,367	4,449	6,176	1,239	604	1,175	69,533
	November	23,446	19,197	13,285	4,528	6,222	1,240	616	1,179	69,713
	December	23,546	19,316	13,253	4,645	6,286	1,242	631	1,185	70,104
2003	January	23,718	19,454	13,281	4,785	6,365	1,250	647	1,198	70,698
	February	23,893	19,567	13,365	4,921	6,429	1,257	660	1,204	71,296
(a) Other vehicle figures for July 2002 and August 2002 have been affected by reporting problems. See Notes.