Motor vehicle sales in Australia have rebounded over the last month thanks to surging demand for light cars and encouraging sales of family sedans and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

VFACTS results released on Friday by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that October sales were up 5.0 per cent over the same month last year.

"The October result suggests that the motor vehicle market may be pulling out of the slight decline of results in recent months and tallies with our prediction of a stronger fourth quarter following important new model releases," said FCAI Chief Executive Peter Sturrock.

Year to date the automotive market is down by 23,148 vehicles or 2.8 per cent and the FCAI is projecting an end-of-year total of 970,000 - which would be the second highest on record.

Sales in the light passenger car segment rose by 2,382 vehicles or 31.3 per cent over October last year, partly at the expense of the larger-sized small car segment, sales of which fell by 1,328 or 7.0 per cent.

The medium car segment also performed well, jumping by 1,479 sales, while large car sales were just 398 vehicles off the total in October last year.

"The large car segment is starting to feel the positive effect of the new Holden Commodore" said Mr Sturrock.

He said it was also notable that sales of four-wheel drive vehicles appear to be recovering slightly.

"A rise of 11.3 per cent in SUV sales last month suggests that some consumers may have set aside their concerns about the petrol price spike that occurred over winter," he said.

Sales of light commercial vehicles rose slightly in October (2.3 per cent), although the segment is down for the year to date by 2.8 per cent.

The FCAI says the automotive industry has begun a huge end-of-year sales push.

"Last week's opening of the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney began an intense period of sales and marketing activity running up to Christmas, and we believe that November and December sales will be strong," said Mr Sturrock.

by Stephen Walker

Amongst the companies who gained sales in October 2006, compared to October 2005, were Nissan (4,436 v 3,281), Suzuki (1,487 v 1,409) and Volkswagen (1,980 v 1,499).

The Korean manufacturers repeated their slide and fell again in October, just as they did in September. The statistics reveal Hyundai recorded 3,422 sales (3,508 in October 2005), Kia 1,527 (2,173) and Ssangyong 182 (207).

Amongst the prestige marques, Audi went up again in October by recording some 528 sales (compared to 404 in October 2005), whilst Land Rover sold 288 units (244) and Mercedes-Benz sold 1,587 units (1,433).

At the upper end of the market, Aston Martin continues to shine with 7 units delivered (3 in October 2005), whilst Bentley sold 6 cars (0) and Rolls Royce sold 2 (0).

Amongst the specialist sports car marques, Ferrari were down on month-on-month sales, but Lotus delivered 3 units (0 in October 2005).

Amongst those who had a shocker of a month in October was Mazda, who sold 4,769 units (6,001 in 2005).

But the biggest surprise of all was the fact that Jaguar (an endangered species marque) went up from 60 sales in October 2005 to 92 sales last month! Thus Jaguar continues to build on its small year-to-date growth, which is now running at 5.2%.

As an early prediction, the Next Car team expect sales during 2007 will be down a little over the 2006 results which are expected to be down from the record sales of 2005.