VACC Senior Research Analyst, Steve Bletsos breaks down the latest statistics from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries – and it's a 2022 F1 Australian Grand Prix edition! Here's what you need to know...

The 2022 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix is just around the corner. There are 10 teams who will take part in the Grand Prix, but just four manufacturers will provide them with engines. These include:

F1 teams and their engine suppliers for the 2022 season:

• Red Bull – Red Bull
• Mercedes – Mercedes
• Ferrari – Ferrari
• McLaren – Mercedes
• Alpine – Renault
• Alpha Tauri – Red Bull
• Aston Martin – Mercedes
• Williams – Mercedes
• Alfa Romeo – Ferrari
• Haas – Ferrari

The manufacturers have their own teams in the field, which makes their customers, also their competitors.

Engines and fuel
All F1 engines used are 1000hp 1.6-litre turbo hybrid engines, and all engine development is frozen until 2026 when new engine regulations arrive.

As part of a sustainability push, E10 fuel is now being used. E10 fuel has a 10 per cent ethanol content in the fuel mixture.

Racing team budget caps
First introduced to Formula 1 in 2021, team budget caps for 2022 have dropped from $145m to $140m, impacting teams’ resources on everything except their marketing. This is set to reduce by a further $5m in 2023, leaving each team with only $135million to spend.

Some of the smaller teams are fine spending this amount of money in a season, but teams like Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari will see their budgets slashed significantly, as the F1 industry seeks to make the championship more even.

Australian Grand Prix F1 Winning teams and engine manufacturers
Since the start of Australian Grand Prix as a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1985, McLaren as achieved the most victories (11 wins), followed by Ferrari (9), Williams (8), Mercedes (4) and Renault (2).

In terms of engine manufacturers, Mercedes has the most wins (11), followed by Ferrari (9), Renault (8), Honda (4) and Ford Cosworth (2).

Grand Prix relationship to new car sales
VFACTS new vehicle sales data shows that sales of brands associated with the Grand Prix as well as performance vehicles in general, rise strongly during the period leading up to the Grand Prix.

Over the last three Australian Grand Prix’s (2017-2019), these sales increases have averaged between 4 to 44 per cent, across all participating GP team brands and engine manufacturers.

Furthermore, research conducted by Roy Morgan in 2017, shows that around one in four Australians who intend to buy a new car watch Formula 1 on television, and their need for speed plays a big part in what make of car they plan to purchase.

Formula 1 brands New Vehicle sales – March 2022
If we look at vehicle sales of brands associated with F1 in Australia for March 2022, we get the following results:

1. Mercedes-Benz is in pole position with 2,397 sales for the month (YTD 5,958 sales, down 26.8%)
2. BMW – a former F1 player – is second with 1,824 sales (YTD 5,369 sales, down 13%)
3. Honda –a past F1 competitor and former engine supplier to Red Bull – is third with 1,508 sales (YTD 4,089 sales, down 38.8%)
4. Renault/Alpine is in fourth position with 883 Renault sales and zero Alpine sales (YTD 2,545 Renault and three Alpine sales, up 97.4% and 200% respectively)
5. Alfa Romeo is fifth with 61 sales for the month (YTD 162 sales, up 20.9%)
6. Ferrari is in sixth spot with 20 sales (YTD 57 sales, up 35.7%)
7. Aston Martin is in seventh position with 10 sales (YTD 27 sales, down 37.2%)
8. McLaren is in last position with four sales for the month (YTD nine sales, down 57.1%).

Wider VFACTS New Vehicle Sales Results March 2022

National Scene

• 101,233 new vehicles were sold in March 2022, a rise of 1,228 vehicles or 1.2 per cent over March 2021. Year to date, we are trailing by 1,212 vehicles or -0.5 per cent over the same period last year
   
• It must be stated that the March 2022 VFACTS sales results are distorted by the fact that for the first time, Tesla sales have been added to the VFACTS figures. Three months of Tesla sales (January – March 2022) have been added to the March 2022 sales figures, which equates to an additional 4,417 vehicles. Given that Tesla sales have never been captured in the past, this makes the VFACTS comparison to last year’s March monthly and year to date sales largely misleading, and therefore caution is advised in interpreting the current national sales results
   
• If we were to exclude the addition of Tesla sales to make the basis of comparison the same as previous years, then nationally 96,816 new vehicle sales would be recorded for March 2022, a reduction of 3,189 vehicles or -3.2% over March 2021
   
• Supply constraints continue to affect the market, with manufacturers still recovering from pandemic related shutdowns and on-going global shortages of semiconductors – including neon gas which is used to produce semiconductors of which the Ukraine is world’s largest producer and production has slowed due to the war

Sales by Vehicle Category and Type

• Notwithstanding the distortion introduced by Tesla figures, sales grew across all vehicle segments in March, except for SUVs which recorded a decline of 1.6 per cent. The highest growth rate (albeit off a lower base) was recorded in the heavy vehicle segment (12.5%). 

The sales breakdowns are as follows

• The medium car segment was the fastest growing vehicle segment for the month (up 175.5%), due to the addition of Tesla sales. This was followed by the vans and utilities (up 151.3% and 19.6% respectively)
   
• ln terms of sales by fuel type, petrol vehicles decreased by 11.6% in March 2022, whilst sales of all other fuel types increased. Sales of battery electric vehicles increased the most (5,532 sales in March or more than 1000% growth), but this was influenced by the addition of three months of Tesla sales figures to the data

Notable brand improvers for the month of March 2022 included:

• Bentley – up from 15 sales in March 2021 to 24 sales in March 2022
• Citroen – up from 11 to 34
• Ferrari – up from 13 to 20
• Jaguar – up from 82 to 111
• Lotus – up from five to 18
• Mitsubishi – up from 6,430 to 9,007
• Rolls-Royce – up from two to five

Notable model improvers for the month of March 2022 included:

• Audi A3 – up from 38 sales in March 2021 to 141 in March 2022
• Lotus Exige – up from four to 16 sales
• Ferrari Coupe/Convertible – up from 13 to 20
• Bentley Coupe/Convertible – up from five to 10
• Mercedes Benz GLC-Class Coupe – up from 59 to 177
• Land Rover defender – up from 113 to 200
• Mitsubishi Pajero Sport – up from 886 to 1,669
• Kia Sportage – up from 771 to 1,530

Economic Trends
The supply of new vehicles into Australia continues to be impacted by the on-going effects of the global pandemic and the war in the Ukraine, and this is anticipated to continue over the course of 2022. Despite record low unemployment levels, the emergence of inflationary pressures and the potential for interest rate rises starting from June this year, may also impact the demand for new vehicles moving forward. These trends and their impact on vehicle sales must be monitored carefully over the coming months.

Data source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

Statistics will be discussed on the February episode of THE GRILLE, a new automotive industry podcast hosted by Greg Rust, Shane Jacobson and VACC CEO, Geoff Gwilym. Out Thursday, 10 March! Visit: thegrillepodcast.com.au