Sales of new motor vehicles slid by 3.2 percent in May, according to the latest figures furnished by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Monday, but CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian characterised the decline as a mere statistical hiccup and not an indicator of weakening consumer confidence.

The ABS data showed that about 88,484 vehicles were sold in May as compared to the 91,374 units sold in the previous month, though it also found that total units sales in the year leading to May has increased by 16.4 percent.

Mr Sebastian said that the fall can be attributed to the way the motor vehicle industry records its sales as he clarified that sales are only recognised at the point of delivery and case in point are "car sales made before December 31 are only being delivered now."

He said that in the seasonally adjusted procedure, sales records lose some gains when they take into account the number of trading days in the month.

Mr Sebastian noted that the decline happened right after the record sales posted in April, the highest so far in the preceding eight months, indicating that "car sales have remained quite strong and the market will consolidate those gains."

For his part, ICAP economist Adam Carr agreed that motor vehicle sales have maintained its solid performance as he cited that the 10 percent increase in April practically dwarfed the latest slide seen in May.

Despite the dip, Mr Carr said that the May data actually reflected very strong growth in vehicle sales, as he firmly believed that "consumers have cash and they are far from being stressed."