Sports utility vehicles (SUV) continue to lord it over as it registered record sales anew in October yet the numbers proved insufficient for the industry as the overall turnovers of motor vehicles in Australia suffered a decline in the month.

From the miniscule sales gain of 0.9 percent in September, motor vehicle sales took the cue and posted a sales dip of 0.6 percent in October, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

Still, the ABS figures has indicated that overall vehicle sales from the start of the year to the end of October still hovered on the positive board while sales of brand new vehicles jumped by 3.3 percent so far in the month.

The new ABS figures, according to CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian, represented rising caution on the part of car buyers as he pointed out that for the past two months, the sector's sales performance emitted encouragement and hesitation at the same time.

Mr Sebastian noted that SUV sales were able to carry the cudgels for the industry during the months of September and October, by posting 24 percent spikes in the last month, yet the record turnovers failed to carry the weight of the other segments in the industry which has been hampered by weakening sales at the start of the calendar year's third quarter.

SUV sales hit the record highs in the last two months due to Australians obvious preference for the popular vehicle segment, according to Mr Sebastian, though he also offered that the relative affordability of petrol prices may have prompted many car buyers to opt for the road behemoth despite its high-fuel maintenance.

He added that better job security in the country could have also contributed to buyers' confidence in driving home their own brand new SUVs.

CommSec said that while cars are still generally affordable, the November rate hike could discourage more vehicle sales at least in the short term but Mr Sebastian is hopeful that the industry would be able to recover strength by April next year.

Among the Australian states that experienced declines on motor vehicle sales, Western Australia fared relatively better by posting sales retreat of only 5.2 percent in October while Tasmanian dealers suffered the most on account of their sales slide of 5.9 percent in the month, with South Australia squeezed in between by registering shrinking sales of 5.4 percent.