National scene
For the month of July
- There were 84,461 new vehicles delivered in July 2022, a slight increase of 300 vehicles or 0.4 per cent over July 2021. The July sales result breaks the trend of declining sales over the previous three months
- The market segments which grew in July 2022 were: SUVs (up 6.4 per cent); Heavy commercial vehicles (up 4.0 per cent). The segments which were down in July were: Passenger vehicles (down 9.0 per cent); Light commercial vehicles (down 4.4 per cent).
Year-to-date sales
- A total of 622,319 new vehicles have been delivered year to date, which is 29,310 fewer vehicles or 4.5 per cent below that of the same period last year
- Market conditions have not normalised since the beginning of the pandemic and continue to be affected by overseas manufacturing plant shutdowns, logistics and shipping constraints, with no relief expected over the near term.
State numbers
- Only two states recorded increased sales in July 2022, - NSW (up 10.9%) and SA (up 13.3%)
- The NT and SA recorded the largest sales declines in July (-16.6 per cent and -16.4 per cent respectively), followed by TAS (-13.2 per cent), WA (-9.0 per cent), VIC (-5.8 per cent) and QLD (-1.1 per cent).
Commercial vehicles
- There were 3,670 heavy commercial vehicles sold in July 2022, an increase of 142 vehicles or 4.0 per cent over July last year. Year to date sales of heavy commercial vehicles are up 7.3 per cent
- There were 20,064 light commercial vehicles sold in July 2022, a decline of 930 vehicles or -4.4 per cent over July last year. Year-to-date sales of light commercials are down 3.4 per cent.
Sales by vehicle category and fuel type
Battery electric vehicles
July sales
- 609 battery electric vehicles were sold in July 2022
- The Polestar 2 was the highest selling electric vehicle (94 sales), followed by the Kia Niro EV (79 sales), the Kia EV6 (52 sales)
- Due to shipping issues, only four Tesla vehicles (Model 3) were delivered in July 2022, all to Western Australia.
Year-to-date sales
- 10,289 battery electric vehicles have been sold year to date
- 45.2 per cent of EV sales year to date are accounted for by one vehicle – the Tesla Model 3.
Plug-in-hybrids
- 578 plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles were sold in July, an increase of 253 or 77.8 per cent over July last year
- Year to date 3,519 plug-in hybrids have been sold, up by 1,754 vehicles or 99.4 per cent over the same time last year.
Hybrids, petrol & diesel
- 6,779 hybrid vehicles were sold in July this year, up by 1,627 vehicles or 31.6 per cent over July last year. Year to date hybrid sales are 47,835 – up 14.4 per cent over same period last year
- 44,039 petrol vehicles were sold in July this year, down by 4.2 per cent over July last year, and year to date petrol vehicle sales are down by 12.3 per cent
- 28,785 diesel vehicles were sold in July this year, down by 0.5 per cent over July last year, and year to date diesel sales are down 0.6 per cent.
Best sales performers in July 2022
The most notable sales performers in July 2022 were:
- The Subaru WRX – 355 sales in July 2022, up 380.8 per cent from July 2021
- Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross – 669 sales, up 275.8 per cent
- Mercedes Benz GLC-Class Wagon – 488 sales, up 158.2 per cent
- Nissan X-Trail – 1,269 sales, up 195.1 per cent
- Kia Sportage – 1,837 sales, up 201.6 per cent
- Toyota Hilux 4x2 – 1,600 sales, up 95.1 per cent
- Kia Carnival – 920 sales, up 128.9 per cent
- Toyota Landcruiser Wagon – 1,171 sales, up 117.7 per cent.
Best brand performances for July
There were mixed sales results for luxury and sports vehicle brands in July 2022. Sales increases were recorded across the following brands:
- Lamborghini sold 27 vehicles in July 2022 compared to nine in July 2021
- Ferrari sold 15 vehicles in July 2022 compared to 13 last year
- Aston Martin sold 8 vehicles in July 2022, one more than in July 2021
- Porsche sold 306 vehicles in July 2022 compared to 247 last year.
Across all brands, Toyota led the market with a total of 19,565 vehicles sold. Mazda was next with 7,879, followed by Hyundai (6,792), Kia (6,711) and Mitsubishi (5,611).
The Toyota Hi-Lux was the highest selling model with 6,441 sales reported. The Ford Ranger followed with 2,934. Toyota’s RAV4 was next with 2,437 followed by Mazda’s CX-5 (2,346) and Hyundai’s Tucson (2,186).
Economic trends
With inflation currently running at 6.1 per cent and rising, the Reserve Bank has lifted the cash rate in August by 50 basis points to 1.85 per cent. Further interest rate rises are expected in September and November this year. These actions will act to restrain consumer demand for many goods and services in the economy, including the demand for new vehicles moving forward.