The pickup in the state’s economy revealed in the latest GDP data hasn’t flowed through to spending on new cars, with vehicle sales in February 13.7 per cent lower than the same month in 2016.
Only 7,526 vehicles were sold in February, with passenger car sales suffering worst, down 20.4 per cent on February 2016, to 2,550.
That meant SUVs continued a medium-term trend of being more popular than passenger cars, despite a 10.6 per cent contraction on the same period last year, with 3,263 sold.
Business News reported earlier this year that Western Australia had been ahead of a national trend towards SUVs.
Light commercial vehicle sales in February fell 8.9 per cent compared to February 2016, with 1,518 sold, while heavy vehicles contracted 3.9 per cent to 195 sold.
Toyota was the state’s most popular car brand, with sales of 1,629 more than double its nearest competitor, Hyundai.
WA wasn’t the only state with a soft car market, although its contraction was the most pronounced in the country.
Nationally, sales were 7.7 per cent lower than in February 2016.
Only Tasmania, with growth of 1.1 per cent, and the ACT, with growth of 0.3 per cent, posted improvements.
Just more than 89,000 cars were sold nationally in the month.
