The long and rare combined Easter-Anzac Day break (and the usual one fewer selling day for April) clipped new car sales last month, compared with the corresponding month in 2010.

The overall market fell 8.8% (or 7,187 vehicles) compared to April 2010 and sales so far this year are now 3.2% behind the first four months of 2010 (down 10,550 vehicles to 322,678).

Every passenger-car segment recorded a drop in sales, while only compact SUVs and luxury SUVs achieved growth compared with April last year.

Easter a year ago split late March and early April, with Anzac Day three weeks later.

This year there were three less trading days in the month, Good Friday, Anzac Day and the one less day (no 31st day). As well some dealers closed on Easter Sunday.

But that wasn't the explanation for another poor performance by Ford and especially it's ageing Falcon mainstay model.

The April industry sales figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows a further weakening in the sales performance of Ford Australia and its big falcon model, as it was overtaken in the monthly sales race by Hyundai South Korea.

The performance adds pressure to Ford which has already announced production shutdowns at its Melbourne plants in March to try and cut the backlog of unsold Falcons and Territories, and then announced job cuts totalling 340 manufacturing and white collar staff.

Ford's sales fell 20% in April from a year ago, after registering a 3.4% rise in the March quarter, thanks to strong demand for its imported Fiesta and Focus models which offset continuing weak demand for the Falcon and Territory (a new model for the latter is due shortly).

Falcon sales fell 50% last month with 1,457 sold.

The Falcon was outsold in April by the Toyota Camry, Hyundai Getz and Mitsubishi Lancer.

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As a result Hyundai moved into the top three for only the second time on record with 6800 sales (up 2%). Ford (6400) and Mazda (6300) were 4th and 5th...

It was only the second time Hyundai had overtaken Ford and claimed a top-three position: the first time was in February of last year. Hyundai also came within three sales of defeating Ford in January of this year.

"It seems likely that the timing of the Easter and Anzac Day holidays, combined with school holidays, has been the major factor contributing to lower sales in the past month," FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar said in a statement.

Some brands and model lines may face issues with supply over the coming months, following the aftermath of natural disasters in Japan, he said.

"Most brands have positioned themselves to ensure that they will have adequate stock to meet strong demand over the coming months.

"While this is a factor, we don't expect it to detract from competitive pressures in the new vehicle market."

Mr McKellar said the strong Australian dollar was underpinning record levels of car affordability.

Toyota continued to be the top selling brand in April, with 13,683 sales, followed by Holden (9113) and Hyundai (6857).

In fact Toyota was the only maker whose sales topped 10,000, even though the Japanese giant saw an 18% slump in Australia in the month.

The Mazda3 is still Australia's best selling car so far this year but the Holden Commodore claimed top spot for the second month in a row.

The Commodore's April tally of 3,090 sales was just 40 more than the Mazda3, but the Mazda3 still leads year-to-date by 450 sales.

Interestingly, the usually strong selling Toyota Corolla fell to 4th spot in the small car segment, behind the Mazda3, Holden Cruze and i30 of Hyundai.