Industry insights: VFACTS December 2022 summary

10 January 2023

VACC Senior Research Analyst, Steve Bletsos breaks down the latest automotive statistics from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Here’s what you need to know…

National Scene

For the month of December

• There were 87,920 new vehicles delivered in December 2022, an increase of 9,518 vehicles or 12.1 per cent over December 2021
• All vehicle categories recorded increased sales in December, except for light commercials which recorded a small decline of 1.9 per cent (SUV sales were up 21.7 per cent; Heavy commercial vehicles sales were up 19.2 per cent; Passenger vehicle sales were up 3.1 per cent)
• Demand for new vehicles remained strong in December, despite delivery delays, interest rate rises and inflationary pressures in the economy. This provides the market with some momentum going into 2023.

Year to date sales

• For the 2022 calendar year, 1,081,429 new vehicle sales were recorded, which is three per cent higher, or 31,598 more vehicles sold than in 2021
• This represents the best yearly sales result since 2018 when 1,153,111 were sold, and also the fourteenth time in the past 16 years Australians purchased more than one million new vehicles in a calendar year
• Annual new vehicle sales in 2022, however, were still nine per cent less than the record of 1,189,116 witnessed in 2017, and 5.8 per cent less than the five-year average prior to the pandemic
• Passenger vehicles ended the year down -8.4 per cent and were the only market segment which declined in 2022. In other results for the year: SUV sales were up 8.1 per cent; Light commercials were up 1.2 per cent; Heavy commercials were up 9.3 per cent.

State numbers

• All states and territories recorded sales increases in December 2022, except for the ACT which recorded a small decline (-0.4 per cent)
• All states and territories finished with higher sales for the 2022 calendar year over 2021, except for Western Australia which recorded a minor sales decline of -0.4 per cent
• Victoria recorded the best sales performance of all jurisdictions over the 2022 calendar year, with an annual sales growth of 5.3 per cent. Victoria captured almost half of the national vehicle sales growth in 2022, accounting for 14,581 vehicles or 46.1 per cent of the 31,598 vehicle sales increase nationally.
• The end of year sales results for each state are as follows: Victoria up 5.3 per cent; Tasmania up 3.2 per cent; NSW up three per cent; Queensland up 2.5 per cent; ACT up 1.4 per cent; SA up 1.1 per cent; NT up 0.2 per cent; WA down -0.2 per cent.

Commercial vehicles

• There were 4,339 heavy commercial vehicles sold in December 2022, up 19.1 per cent over December 2021
• Over the 2022 calendar year, there were 47,359 heavy commercial vehicles sold, a growth of 4,038 vehicles or 9.3 per cent over the previous year. In percentage growth terms, heavy commercial vehicles finished up as the best performing market segment in 2022
• There were 19,545 light commercial vehicles sold in December 2022, down 371 vehicles or -1.9 per cent over December last year. Over the 2022 calendar year, there were 256,382 light commercials sold, up by 3,128 vehicles or 1.2 per cent compared to 2021.

Sales by Vehicle Category and Fuel Type

Battery Electric vehicles – December sales

• There were 5,084 battery electric vehicles delivered in December 2022
• Tesla dominated the market with 2,266 vehicles sold in December 2022, accounting for approximately 45 per cent of all electric vehicle sales for the month
• The biggest selling EV models in December were the Tesla Model 3 (1,806 sales), followed by the BYD Atto 3 (1,268 sales) and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (756 sales).

Year to date sales

• There were 33,410 pure electric vehicles sold during the 2022 calendar year, representing 3.1 per cent of all new vehicle sales, up from around two per cent in 2021
• Tesla sold 19,594 vehicles in 2022, resulting in a 58.6 per cent share of the EV market. BYD finished the year in second place with 2,113 sales, followed by Polestar with 1,524 sales.

Plug-in-hybrids – December sales

• There were 460 plug-in-hybrids sold in December 2022, a rise of 142 vehicles or 44.7 per cent over December 2021.

Year to date

• There were 5,937 plug-in-hybrids sold in the 2022 calendar year, a rise of 2,565 vehicles or 76.1 per cent over 2021. Plug-in-hybrids accounted for 0.5 per cent of the new vehicle market in 2022.

Hybrids – December sales petrol & diesel

• There were 7,082 hybrids sold in December 2022, a rise of 1,230 vehicles or 21.0 per cent over December 2021.

Year to date

• 81,786 hybrids were sold during the 2022 calendar year – a growth of 11,320 vehicles or 16.1 per cent over 2021. Hybrids accounted for 7.6 per cent of the new vehicle market in 2022.

Petrol – December 2022 sales

• 43,332 petrol vehicles were sold in December 2022 – a rise of 1,988 vehicles or 4.8 per cent over December 2021.

Year to date

• 551,556 petrol vehicles were sold during the 2022 calendar year. This represents a reduction of 5.0 per cent or 28,976 fewer vehicles sold than during 2021. Petrol vehicles accounted for 51 per cent of the market in 2022.

Diesel – December sales

• 27,621 diesel vehicles were sold in December 2022, a rise of 927 vehicles or 3.5 per cent over December 2021.

Year to date

• 361,366 diesel vehicles were sold during the 2022 calendar year, a rise of 14,413 vehicles or 4.2 per cent over 2021. Diesel vehicles accounted for around one-third (33.4 per cent) of the new vehicle market in 2022.
   

Best brand performers in 2022

Toyota once again dominated the sales charts, selling 231,050 vehicles in 2022, for a market share of 21.4 per cent. This was Toyota’s third highest sales result on record after selling 238,983 vehicles in 2008 and 236,647 in 2007.

In second place was Mazda with 95,718 sales for the year, with a market share of 8.9 per cent. Third came Kia, outselling its sister company Hyundai and Mitsubishi for the first time with 78,330 sales and a market share of 7.2 per cent. In fourth place came Mitsubishi with 76,991 sales and a market share of 7.1 per cent, and in fifth spot came Hyundai with 73,345 sales and a 6.8 per cent market share for the year.

MG has grown faster than any other brand in Australia, rising to seventh position in the sales charts in 2022, up from ninth position in 2021. MG recorded 49,582 sales in 2022 and a market share of 4.6 per cent. Considering that MG had only around 3,000 sales in 2018, this growth is a major achievement since it was placed under Chinese ownership.

Tesla, with 19,594 sales, rose to sixteenth position on the new sales charts in 2022, ahead of Audi, Honda and Volvo, with close to two out of every three electric cars sold in Australia in 2022 being a Tesla.

Worst brand performers in 2022

Many brands went backward in terms of sales in 2022. This included:

• Nissan (-35.8 per cent)
• Land Rover (-32.7 per cent)
• Peugeot (-25.6 per cent)
• Lexus (-23.7 per cent)
• Honda (-19.1 per cent)
• Jeep (-14.2 per cent).
   

Best-selling models in 2022

The top selling vehicle in 2022 was the Toyota Hi-Lux for the seventh year in a row (64,391 sales), followed by the Ford Ranger (47,479), Mitsubishi Triton (27,436), Mazda CX-5 (27,062) and the Toyota Corolla (25,284) rounding out the top five.

Luxury/sports brands results for 2022

2022 was a mixed year for many luxury/sport vehicle brands. The best sales performers for 2022 were:

• Lamborghini – sales up by 45 vehicles or 34.4 per cent for the year
• Porsche – sales up 1,180 vehicles or 26.6 per cent
• Rolls-Royce – sales up 12 vehicles or 25.0 per cent
• Maserati – up by 34 vehicles or 6.1 per cent
• Ferrari – up by 9 vehicles or 4.6 per cent.

The worst performers in the luxury category during 2022 were:

• Jaguar – sales down 42.7 per cent
• McLaren – down 30.7 per cent
• Lexus – down 23.7 per cent
• Lotus – down 12.7 per cent
• Bentley – down 7.3 per cent.

Economic trends

While the new vehicle market is showing signs of some momentum moving into early 2023, there remains considerable uncertainty moving forward. The full impact of interest rate rises to date is yet to unravel, with further rate rises during 2023 being a distinct possibility. This, along with other inflationary pressures and global uncertainties, may dampen consumer spending in 2023.

Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries

Statistics will be discussed on the next episode of THE GRILLE, an automotive industry podcast hosted by Greg Rust, Shane Jacobson and VACC CEO, Geoff Gwilym. Visit: thegrillepodcast.com.au