The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that from the previous month, the Sales of new motor vehicles in Australia increased by 5.4% in the month of May, the highest increase registered since early 2005.

In the month of May 75, 472 vehicles were sold on a seasonally adjusted basis, higher from an upwardly revised 71,626 in April. April sales were revised to show a 1.7% raise from 0.9% initially.

In May, sales increased by 0.1%, in trend terms, since January 2008 it is the first increase.

On May previous year, the sales were low by 12.6% however in the last month annual the pace of decrease slowed from 20%.