AUSTRALIANS bought more cars in June than in any other month in history, driven by record sales of SUVs.

End of financial year deals drove 108,722 cars out of showrooms, eclipsing the record set in June 2008 by more than 2000 sales.

One in every five sales in June was a family friendly SUV.

The result caused the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) to revise its calendar year sales estimate up from 940,000 cars to 980,000, still well shy of the record of 1,049,982 sales in 2007.

FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar said the June result was a ”demonstration of renewed confidence in the marketplace”. He was also quick to sound a note of caution despite an encouraging year-to-date figure of 531,168 cars sold, more than 16 per cent higher than for the same time last year.

”This is a positive yet cautious outlook for the second half of the year as we assess the impact of factors on the market,” he said.

With last year’s fuel price hikes a fading memory, more than 24,500 SUVs were sold in June – almost 3000 more than the previous record in March.