New car sales in Canberra fell by 3.3 per cent in 2014 in what proved to be a challenging year for the vehicle industry with announcements that Holden and Toyota would join Ford in closing down their manufacturing operations within the next 18 months.
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Sales were down by 2 per cent from 1,136,227 to 1,113,224 Australia wide.
ACT car sales fell from 17,860 to 17,277 making it the second smallest market after the Northern Territory where 10,993 cars were sold compared to 11,393 in 2013 – a drop of 3.5 per cent.
Federal Council of Automotive Industries chief executive, Tony Weber, who lives and works in Canberra, announced the figures on Tuesday.
He said the two biggest numerical falls had been in Western Australia and Queensland and could be attributed to the end of the mining boom.
Mr Weber said the Canberra figures were better than some people may have predicted given the "doom and gloom" that had surrounded the public sector for much of 2014.
"There are a lot of people in the ACT who can afford to buy a new car," he said. "Early retirements and voluntary redundancy packages can actually drive the decision. There are a lot of people here (in Canberra) who have the confidence to make the investment."
The ACT nearly overtook Tasmania again after a dramatic 9.7 per cent fall in car sales in the island state. That slump came off the back of a 14.6 per cent jump in Tasmanian car sales in 2012.
Tasmanians bought only 17,571 cars in 2014 compared to 19,458 the previous year and 16,981 in 2012. ACT residents bought 17,435 cars in 2012.
NSW, with market growth of 1.5 per cent, was the only state or territory to record an increase in car sales in 2014, according to the FCAI figures. NSW sales rose from 351,050 in 2013 to 356,174 in 2014.
Mr Weber said the fact that only 422 sales separated Australia's top selling car, the Toyota Corolla, from the Mazda3 and that the Corolla only sold 43,735 cars (3.9 per cent of the market) were signs of just how competitive the market was.
In1958 a single vehicle, the FC Holden, accounted for 50.3 per cent of all sales.
"The Australian car market is very competitive with 67 different brands and more than 350 models. Car sales have topped 1.1 million units in Australia for the third year in a row."
