Industry insights: VFACTS April 2022 summary
4 May 2022
National Scene
- April was a somewhat disappointing month in terms of new vehicle sales. There were 81,065 new vehicles reported as sold in April 2022, a reduction of 11,282 vehicles or 12.2 per cent over April 2021. Year to date, we are behind by 12,494 new vehicle sales or 3.5 per cent over last year.
- Sales were down across states and territories in April 2022, with WA recording the largest drop (-20.4 per cent), followed by ACT (-14.9 per cent), NSW (-12.7 per cent), Queensland (11.2 per cent) and Victoria (-11.0 per cent). Year to date, Tasmania is the only state recording increased sales (+7.3 per cent)
- Sales were down across all vehicle segments in April, except for heavy vehicles which grew by 6.5 per cent.
- The lack of sufficient product somewhat distorted the April 2022 figures in the market. FCAI attributes the April sales decrease to ongoing global supply issues and shipping constraints due to COVID-19. Delivery times for many new vehicles have now blown out to nine – 12 months.
Sales by Vehicle Category and Type
- Electric vehicles and plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles were the only vehicle categories that grew in April 2022. Sales of diesel, petrol and hybrid and hydrogen vehicle sales all went backwards.
- 866 electric vehicles sold in April, of which 52 were the Tesla Model 3 and 93 comprised of the new Polestar 2. There were 628 plug-in-hybrid vehicles sold, compared to 248 in April last year.
Notable sales performers in April 2022: The Suzuki Baleno – 991 sales in April 2022, up 275 per cent from April 2021; The MG MG3 – 1,615 sales, up 40.4 per cent; The Kia Stinger – 316 sales, up 203.8 per cent and The Porsche Taycan – 58 sales, up 20.8 per cent.
Brand performance:
- While luxury and sport vehicle sales had declined in April 2022, Bentley almost doubled its sales from 12 vehicles in April last year to 23 in April this year
- Renault more than doubled its sales from 298 last April to 606 in April 2022
- MG continued its positive sales run with 4,773 sales, up 58.7 per cent over April 2021
- RAM sales grew from 250 last April to 466 in April 2022.
Overall, Toyota led the market with a total of 17,956 vehicles sold in April 2022. Mazda came in second (7,378). Third was Mitsubishi (6,463). Kia came in fourth (6,180) and Hyundai fifth (5,552).
The Toyota Hi-Lux was the highest-selling model (4,493). The Ford Ranger came in second with (3,581). Toyota’s RAV4 was third (3,373). Mazda’s CX-5 took out fourth place (2,701). Fifth place went to Isuzu Ute’s D-Max (2,374).
Economic trends
New vehicle sales are sensitive to certain changes within the economy. Recent inflationary pressures, along with a series of interest rate rises, and a tapering-off in house price growth, have the potential to dampen new vehicle sales moving forward. These, along with the existing challenges posed by product supply shortages and shipping constraints, may mean that a difficult period may lie ahead for many dealers.
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