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PUBLICATION

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, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), other vehicles and total vehicles at the state/territory and national levels.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

As advised in the February 2005 issue of this publication, Autoregressive Moving Averages (ARIMA) modelling has been incorporated into the seasonal adjustment process for the majority of the new motor vehicle series and all series have a changed treatment of the trading day component. As a result of these changes the seasonally adjusted and, to a lesser extent, the trend series have been revised. For further information, see paragraph 10 of the Explanatory Notes.


MARCH 2005 KEY POINTS

Trend

The March 2005 trend estimate (83,417) for sales of new motor vehicles increased 0.2% on the February 2005 estimate. It is the fifteenth consecutive monthly increase in the trend estimate. Compared with March 2004 (78,214), the trend estimate has increased 6.7%.

March 2005 sales of new sports utility vehicles recorded a trend increase of 1.2% over the previous month. Sales of new passenger vehicles increased slightly (0.3%) while sales of other new vehicles decreased 0.9% over this time.

The Australian Capital Territory (1.9%) and the Northern Territory (1.6%) recorded the largest increases in the trend estimate for sales of new motor vehicles in March 2005. Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania all recorded trend decreases of 0.5%.


Seasonally adjusted

The seasonally adjusted estimate for sales of new motor vehicles for March 2005 recorded a decrease (-3.7%) compared with February 2005. Sales of passenger vehicles and other new vehicles decreased 4.2% and 4.5% respectively, while sales of sports utility vehicles decreased 1.6% over this time.

Tasmania (3.2%) and the Australian Capital Territory (1.3%) recorded increases in the seasonally adjusted estimate for sales of new motor vehicles. All other states and territories recorded decreases, with the Northern Territory recording the largest decrease (-9.8%).

	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.(a)	NT(a)	ACT(a)	Aust.
Vehicle Sales
Seasonally Adjusted	26,370	21,161	17,200	5,410	7,780	1,792	776	1,370	81,859
Trend	26,803	21,593	17,713	5,481	7,927	1,769	784	1,347	83,417
Percentage Change From Previous Month
Seasonally Adjusted	-3.1	-2.7	-6.5	-4.3	-3.8	3.2	-9.8	1.3	-3.7
Trend	0.6	-0.5	0.6	0.6	-0.5	-0.5	1.6	1.9	0.2
Percentage Change From Previous Year
Seasonally Adjusted	2.1	3.6	2.2	3.7	5.3	26.5	1.3	15.1	3.5
Trend	5.1	5.7	7.8	5.6	9.9	19.4	5.5	11.6	6.7

Table 1: New Motor Vehicle Sales

		Passenger vehicles (No.)	Sports utility vehicles (No.)	Other vehicles (No.)	Total vehicles (No.)	Change passenger vehicles (%)	Change sports utility vehicles (%)	Change other vehicles (%)	Change total vehicles (%)
Original
2004	January	40,715	12,291	11,791	64,797	-18.3	-7.6	-19.5	-16.7
	February	47,876	12,865	15,136	75,877	17.6	4.7	28.4	17.1
	March	53,728	15,005	17,313	86,046	12.2	16.6	14.4	13.4
	April	44,079	12,351	14,875	71,305	-18.0	-17.7	-14.1	-17.1
	May	46,168	15,052	17,059	78,279	4.7	21.9	14.7	9.8
	June	58,284	17,981	20,947	97,212	26.2	19.5	22.8	24.2
	July	46,724	14,442	15,869	77,035	-19.8	-19.7	-24.2	-20.8
	August	48,649	14,910	15,685	79,244	4.1	3.2	-1.2	2.9
	September	49,911	14,715	15,826	80,452	2.6	-1.3	0.9	1.5
	October	52,290	13,907	15,470	81,667	4.8	-5.5	-2.2	1.5
	November	52,888	15,257	16,190	84,335	1.1	9.7	4.7	3.3
	December	48,673	14,311	15,996	78,980	-8.0	-6.2	-1.2	-6.3
2005	January	43,075	13,826	12,664	69,565	-11.5	-3.4	-20.8	-11.9
	February	50,645	15,478	14,886	81,009	17.6	11.9	17.5	16.5
	March	53,280	17,348	15,798	86,426	5.2	12.1	6.1	6.7
Seasonally Adjusted
2004	January	48,720	13,999	15,439	78,158	-0.3	4.0	3.1	1.1
	February	49,054	13,290	15,925	78,269	0.7	-5.1	3.1	0.1
	March	49,023	13,547	16,506	79,076	-0.1	1.9	3.6	1.0
	April	48,459	13,337	15,934	77,730	-1.2	-1.6	-3.5	-1.7
	May	47,720	14,465	16,008	78,193	-1.5	8.5	0.5	0.6
	June	49,551	14,445	15,500	79,496	3.8	-0.1	-3.2	1.7
	July	47,440	14,719	16,005	78,164	-4.3	1.9	3.3	-1.7
	August	48,320	14,856	15,818	78,994	1.9	0.9	-1.2	1.1
	September	50,110	15,199	16,290	81,599	3.7	2.3	3.0	3.3
	October	51,568	15,387	16,464	83,419	2.9	1.2	1.1	2.2
	November	50,008	15,047	15,756	80,811	-3.0	-2.2	-4.3	-3.1
	December	47,953	14,448	16,096	78,497	-4.1	-4.0	2.2	-2.9
2005	January	52,348	15,983	16,994	85,325	9.2	10.6	5.6	8.7
	February	52,632	16,391	16,020	85,043	0.5	2.6	-5.7	-0.3
	March	50,431	16,136	15,292	81,859	-4.2	-1.6	-4.5	-3.7
Trend
2004	January	48,865	13,440	15,554	77,859	-0.9	1.2	1.7	0.0
	February	48,661	13,562	15,801	78,024	-0.4	0.9	1.6	0.2
	March	48,575	13,682	15,957	78,214	-0.2	0.9	1.0	0.2
	April	48,467	13,845	16,006	78,318	-0.2	1.2	0.3	0.1
	May	48,362	14,085	15,979	78,426	-0.2	1.7	-0.2	0.1
	June	48,437	14,400	15,939	78,776	0.2	2.2	-0.3	0.4
	July	48,690	14,697	15,916	79,303	0.5	2.1	-0.1	0.7
	August	49,033	14,910	15,958	79,901	0.7	1.4	0.3	0.8
	September	49,454	15,043	16,073	80,570	0.9	0.9	0.7	0.8
	October	49,892	15,160	16,194	81,246	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.8
	November	50,288	15,314	16,249	81,851	0.8	1.0	0.3	0.7
	December	50,644	15,519	16,233	82,396	0.7	1.3	-0.1	0.7
2005	January	50,946	15,749	16,162	82,857	0.6	1.5	-0.4	0.6
	February	51,199	15,977	16,055	83,231	0.5	1.4	-0.7	0.5
	March	51,339	16,170	15,908	83,417	0.3	1.2	-0.9	0.2

		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.(a)	NT(a)	ACT(a)	Aust.
		(No.)	(No.)	(No.)	(No.)	(No.)	(No.)	(No.)	(No.)	(No.)
Original
2004	January	21,216	16,857	13,403	4,334	6,249	1,193	498	1,047	64,797
	February	24,955	19,727	15,901	5,059	7,113	1,297	686	1,139	75,877
	March	28,118	22,137	18,611	5,561	8,086	1,343	912	1,278	86,046
	April	23,033	19,083	14,831	4,670	6,529	1,229	812	1,118	71,305
	May	25,649	20,106	16,373	5,215	7,296	1,513	918	1,209	78,279
	June	31,438	23,929	22,026	6,436	8,969	1,982	958	1,474	97,212
	July	25,031	19,410	17,141	4,949	7,228	1,449	646	1,181	77,035
	August	24,795	20,850	17,269	5,414	7,513	1,585	677	1,141	79,244
	September	25,241	20,821	17,188	5,289	8,177	1,855	739	1,142	80,452
	October	25,621	22,747	16,079	5,413	7,875	1,981	709	1,242	81,667
	November	26,619	23,052	17,117	5,450	8,157	1,944	694	1,302	84,335
	December	24,315	21,700	16,537	4,998	7,341	2,245	647	1,197	78,980
2005	January	22,467	18,015	14,530	4,466	6,931	1,478	560	1,118	69,565
	February	25,754	20,580	17,837	5,489	7,880	1,431	776	1,262	81,009
	March	27,474	21,963	19,114	5,452	8,623	1,571	888	1,341	86,426
Seasonally Adjusted
2004	January	25,632	20,562	16,094	5,333	7,187	1,476	659	1,215	78,158
	February	25,647	20,527	16,326	5,152	7,123	1,541	743	1,210	78,269
	March	25,834	20,430	16,834	5,217	7,388	1,417	766	1,190	79,076
	April	25,252	20,490	16,261	5,152	7,105	1,481	765	1,224	77,730
	May	25,086	20,323	16,613	5,194	7,475	1,528	785	1,189	78,193
	June	25,486	20,433	17,383	5,247	7,212	1,809	724	1,202	79,496
	July	25,218	19,712	17,101	5,046	7,630	1,554	690	1,213	78,164
	August	24,987	20,642	17,011	5,324	7,624	1,546	729	1,131	78,994
	September	25,650	21,042	17,262	5,399	8,425	1,810	806	1,205	81,599
	October	25,935	22,719	17,294	5,633	7,922	1,893	764	1,259	83,419
	November	25,533	21,469	16,893	5,257	8,027	1,690	708	1,234	80,811
	December	25,252	21,081	16,715	4,738	7,160	1,684	702	1,165	78,497
2005	January	27,148	22,422	17,871	5,613	8,352	1,864	738	1,317	85,325
	February	27,206	21,754	18,394	5,653	8,086	1,737	860	1,353	85,043
	March	26,370	21,161	17,200	5,410	7,780	1,792	776	1,370	81,859
Trend
2004	January	25,597	20,501	15,971	5,231	7,163	1,481	691	1,224	77,859
	February	25,552	20,476	16,196	5,209	7,191	1,467	720	1,213	78,024
	March	25,511	20,431	16,438	5,189	7,213	1,482	743	1,207	78,214
	April	25,428	20,336	16,659	5,171	7,251	1,515	757	1,201	78,318
	May	25,318	20,249	16,846	5,168	7,329	1,558	763	1,195	78,426
	June	25,259	20,288	16,998	5,203	7,467	1,605	764	1,192	78,776
	July	25,261	20,470	17,088	5,250	7,631	1,651	760	1,192	79,303
	August	25,294	20,774	17,115	5,294	7,784	1,693	755	1,192	79,901
	September	25,401	21,151	17,115	5,327	7,907	1,726	747	1,196	80,570
	October	25,590	21,495	17,132	5,351	7,978	1,748	743	1,209	81,246
	November	25,834	21,714	17,199	5,372	7,996	1,761	744	1,231	81,851
	December	26,118	21,787	17,333	5,392	7,985	1,773	749	1,259	82,396
2005	January	26,392	21,764	17,482	5,420	7,973	1,776	760	1,290	82,857
	February	26,636	21,695	17,615	5,451	7,963	1,777	772	1,322	83,231
	March	26,803	21,593	17,713	5,481	7,927	1,769	784	1,347	83,417
(a) Seasonally adjusted numbers of new motor vehicle sales in Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory should be used with caution. For further information, see paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Notes.