Australia new vehicle sales dip in March-VFACTS

SYDNEY, April 5 (Reuters) - Australian new vehicle sales dipped slightly in March after a couple of strong months, though there was little sign of any cooling in consumers' love for sports utility vehicles.

The Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries' VFACTS report on Tuesday showed total sales were 104,512 in March, down 0.5 percent on a year earlier. Sales were 8.4 percent higher than in February.

Sales for the year so far were 2.8 percent ahead of the same three months in 2015. Australians spend around A$20 billion on vehicles annually, equal to almost 9 percent of household consumption.

Demand for sports utility vehicles (SUVs) remained hot, with sales up 8.3 percent on March last year. Those gains have come partly at the expense of passenger vehicles which fell 9.4 percent in the month.

Sales of light commercial vehicles climbed 7.1 percent, a third second straight month of strong gains that could point to firmer business investment.

Sales of heavy vehicles slipped 8.7 percent.

Toyota Motor Corp retained first place on the sales ladder in March with a market share of 17.1 percent. Mazda Motor Corp had another upbeat month with a share of 9.8 percent.

Hyundai Motor Co took third place with 9.3 percent of the market, while the local Holden unit of General Motors Co had 8.0 percent. Ford trailed with 6.2 percent.

Details of the VFACTS report in original terms: Mar Feb m/m pct Mar/15 y/y pct Sales 104,512 96,443 +8.4 105,054 -0.5 Sales by Type: Mar '16/Mar '15 Volumes Pct Change Passenger Vehicles -4,533 -9.4 Sports Utility +2,934 +8.3 Light Commercial +1,312 +7.1 Heavy Commercial -255 -8.7 (Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)