WITH the first month of 2018 done and dusted, the outlook is already looking good for the two big winners in last year’s new car sales race: light commercials and SUVs.

Both segments saw big year-on-year gains in January 2018, with overall SUV sales posting a 10.9 percent increase in sales compared to last January while light commercials, buoyed by evergreen demand for high-riding utes, registered 20.3 percent sales growth.

Across all segments, Australian new car sales were 4.3 percent ahead of where they were this time last year.

Midsize SUV uptake also underwent healthy increases, with sales of mainstream brands pumping up by 19.8 percent and those of premium marques ($60K and over) logging 16.3 percent growth. Large SUV sales contracted, meanwhile, with total large SUV registrations dropping by 10.6 percent.

In the passenger car world, the numbers weren’t as bright. The only categories to see growth were premium upper large cars, largely due to strong demand for the S-Class and Porsche Panamera, and high-end sports cars priced over $200K.

Every other passenger car segment shrank in January, with total segment sales falling 8.7 percent.

Meanwhile the BMW 7 Series and Maserati Ghibli bucked the downtrend across the upper premium market, and the Hyundai Sonata and all-new Toyota Camry both proved that there was still some life in the otherwise tepid midsize segment.

They were outliers, however, as buyers continued their migration from traditional passenger cars to SUVs.