The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) says that supply rather than demand was the primary driver of new car sales in March 2022.
More than 101,233 vehicles were sold in March 2022 bringing the year-to-date total to 262,436 which is 0.5% decrease on the comparative period in 2021.
Toyota’s Hilux was the highest selling model with 6324 sold. The Toyota RAV4 came in second place with 4610 sold. The Mitsubishi Triton took out third place with 3808 vehicles sold. Mazda’s CX-5 was fourth with sales of 3772 and Tesla Model 3 was fifth with sales of 3097 (March only).
This number excludes earlier Tesla sales from January and February 2022 that have not been previously reported in Vfacts.
FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said this stable result reflected the challenges facing the global automotive industry.
“This is a unique time in which supply rather than demand is determining the size of the market. This is due to manufacturers recovering from the pandemic-related shutdowns and the ongoing global shortage of micro processing units.
“Consumer inquiries and demand for new cars remains strong. Manufacturers are working hard to match this demand with supply,” Weber says.
Australians are purchasing zero and low emission vehicles in greater numbers, with the FCAI reporting on two members’ sales for the first time, Tesla and Polestar.
Weber said that in interpreting the data for March 2022 care must be taken as the Tesla sales data represents the company sales for the first three months of 2022.
Tasmanian sales increased by 8.2% with 1768 vehicles sold. Victorian sales increased by 5.3% with 27,155 vehicles sold. Sales in Western Australia were up 5.3% with 10,016 vehicles sold.
Sales in the Australian Capital Territory were down 6.2% compared with the same month in 2021, with 1560 vehicles sold. New South Wales sales was down 0.8% with 32,224 sold.
The Northern Territory sales decreased by 0.2% with 916 vehicles sold. Queensland sales were down 1.7% with 21,214 vehicles sold and South Australian sales decreased by 0.1% with 6380 vehicles sold.
Toyota was the market leader in March 2022 with 21,828 vehicles sold. Toyota was followed by Mazda with 11,248, Mitsubishi with 9007, Hyundai with 6516 and Kia came in fifth place with 6051.
