Australian sees biggest drop in new car sales suffer since 2009

Australia's new car market experienced its biggest sales slowdown in 2014 since the global financial crisis in 2009, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries report showed that 1,113,224 new cars were sold in 2014, down 2 percent from the previous year.
Nine of the top 10 brands were down, however most luxury marques posted significant sales increases.
"The prices of luxury cars have come down ... and they have a wider array of vehicles in different segments, so they're starting to drift down into areas where they weren't historically," chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Tony Weber, said in a statement.
"Australia is now in its 23rd year of economic growth ... it makes a difference to people's standard of living and that's reflected in the car fleet."
It was the seventh time in the past eight years Australians have bought more than 1 million cars in a calendar year, the report said.
Toyota Corolla was Australia's top selling model for the second year in a row ahead of Mazda3, however sales of Australian favorites, Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon, hit a new rock bottom.
Only 100,468 locally-made Holdens, Fords and Toyotas were sold in 2014; the last time the tally was this low was in 1953.
Toyota extended its lead for a record 12th year in a row ahead of Holden, Mazda, Hyundai, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Volkswagen, Subaru and Honda.
SUV sales hit a record high in 2014 and for the first time accounted for more than 30 percent of the new car market, while Mazda CX-5 was the most popular SUV model, according to the report.