Australia auto sales up 11% on demand for SUVs, luxury cars

SYDNEY—Australians last year snapped up increasing numbers of sport-utility vehicles and luxury cars—including brands such as Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini—as the nation's mineral wealth and growing economic strength sent auto sales surging.

Total sales of new cars and trucks jumped about 11% in 2010 compared with the previous year, to 1,035,574 vehicles, the trade group Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said Thursday. The level marked Australia's second-highest annual sales total, after 1,049,982 vehicles in 2007. Results from the trade group include commercial vehicles.

The luxury end of the market showed strong gains. Volkswagen AG's Bentley unit saw sales of its luxury sedans and coupes up more than 50% to 58 cars and British car maker Aston Martin increased its sales 64% to 121 cars, compared with a year earlier period, the survey showed.

Ed Striebig, Bentley's regional manager for South East Asia and Australasia, said the company has a full order book in Australia for the next 15 months for its new Mulsanne grand tourer, which sells for 657,000 Australian dollars, or about US$655,100.

"Our kind of clients have found a mandate to go out there and reward themselves," he said.

Exotic-car maker Automobili Lamborghini SpA sold 45 cars, a 73% increase in its sales in 2009.

"Australians feel relatively secure," said Andrew Smith, managing director of Lamborghini Australia, who oversees dealerships in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. "When there's insecurity the luxury car market does take a nose dive. We're tacked onto the tail end of the Asia-Pacific growth pattern and Australia is along for the ride."

Strong global demand for Australia's minerals has boosted the economy and made more Australians willing to buy. Near full employment has helped boost consumers' confidence to buy new cars, according to Savanth Sebastian, an economist at broker CommSec, which estimates that more than one in four cars sold in Australia are sports utility vehicles.

"Households are once again tentatively spending on big ticket items," said Mr. Sebastian.

Car buyers also have benefited from a stronger currency, which reduces the cost of imports. The Australian dollar gained 20% against the U.S. greenback and the euro last year. At the same time, car buyers have shrugged off rising borrowing costs as Australia's central bank raised rates in an effort to control growth.

In terms of volume, Japanese manufacturers dominated the top 10 sellers in Australia last year. Toyota Motor Corp. was the leader, with a 20.7% share of the market, outpacing General Motors Co.'s local Holden unit with 12.8% and Ford Motor Co. with 9.2%, according to the chamber. Standard passenger car sales increased 9.5% to 592,122 vehicles, led by SUV sales that jumped 25% to 235,285.

"It was a fantastic year," said David Buttner, senior executive director for sales and marketing for Toyota in Australia.