FCAI

The hail storm that lashed Canberra in late January has delivered a boom in new-car sales as the rest of the market hit the brakes. Official figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries for March show sales of new cars in the Australian Capital Territory increased by a staggering 77 per cent compared to the same month the previous year (from 1700 to almost 3000 vehicles) – as the overall market nationally fell by 18 per cent.

Automotive industry bodies and political figures have banded together for a renewed push to end the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) following the demise of the Holden brand in Australia. The Morrison government today responded to calls from several backbenchers to abolish the LCT, suggesting the tax could be removed in the future, if and when the budget can afford it.

EXCLUSIVE The true depth of Holden’s sales disaster will be exposed 24 hours from now, with official figures expected to show the former top-selling brand sold just 2665 cars in November – half what it sold at the same time last year and its weakest monthly result since the company was established 71 years ago. It is the sixth record low for Holden in 11 months. The figure is so low that each of the top three selling cars outsold the entire Holden line-up last month (see tables below).

EXCLUSIVE The car industry plans to use a precedent set by tobacco distributors in 1997 in an attempt to stop state governments across Australia from imposing an additional stamp duty on luxury vehicles.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has slammed a proposal from the NSW state opposition to raise stamp duty on vehicles over $100k, describing it as a "tax on a tax". The NSW Labor party last week announced plans to make the state's stamp duty rate the nation's highest, to 7.0 per cent on vehicles prices above $100,000.