Industry insights: VFACTS February 2023 summary

3 March 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 February

• February was a month of mixed results in terms of new vehicle sales. Nationally, there was a total of 86,878 vehicles sold, an increase of 1.8 per cent or 1,538 vehicles over February 2022
• This represents the best February result since 2019
• All market segments were up in February 2023, except for light commercial vehicle vehicles which fell by -13.6 per cent. The respective sales breakdowns were as follows: Passenger vehicles up 4.8 per cent; SUVs up 6.6 per cent; Heavy commercial vehicles up 26.4 per cent; Light commercials down -13.6 per cent.

State numbers

• Sales results were mixed across states and territories, with half recording increased sales and half displaying decreased sales during February 2023. The following results were recorded for the month: ACT up 7.2 per cent; NSW up 4.7 per cent; NT up 2.8 per cent; WA up 16.7 per cent; QLD down -2.8 per cent; SA down -4.5 per cent; TAS down -9.4 per cent; VIC down -1.3 per cent.

Commercial vehicles

• Once again, heavy commercial vehicles recorded the highest sales growth of all market segments. A total of 3,805 heavy commercial vehicles were sold in February 2023, an increase of 26.4 per cent over February 2022
• A total of 18,750 light commercial vehicles were sold in February 2023, a decrease of -13.6 per cent over February 2022.

Sales by Vehicle Category and Fuel Type

Battery Electric vehicles

• 5,932 battery electric vehicles were sold in February 2023. Year to date, sales of battery electric vehicles account for 6.3 per cent of the new vehicle market
• Tesla recorded 3,516 sales, accounting for 59.3 per cent of all battery electric vehicle sales for the month
• The highest selling battery electric vehicle was the Tesla Model 3 (2,671 sales) followed by the Tesla Model Y (845 sales) and the BYD Atto 3 (770 sales).

Plug-in-hybrids

• 454 plug-in-hybrids were sold in February 2023, an increase of 48.9 per cent or 149 more vehicles than in February 2022

Hybrids, petrol & diesel

• 5,716 conventional hybrid vehicles were sold in February 2023, a decline of -29.8 per cent or 2,427 fewer hybrids over February 2022
• 44,528 petrol vehicles were sold in February 2023, an increase of 2.0 per cent or 880 vehicles over February 2022
• 26,443 diesel vehicles were sold in February 2023, a decrease of -10.8 per cent or 3,189 vehicles over February last year.
   

Sales results by segment and vehicle brand

• Medium size vehicles and people movers were the best performing market segments for the month, recording sales growth of 93.1 per cent and 60.8 per cent respectively.

Some of the best performing vehicle models for the month included:

• Audi A3 (281 sales, up 401.8 per cent)
• GWM Ute 4X4 (715 sales, up 538.4 per cent)
• Hyundai Tucson (1,556 sales, up 112.9 per cent)
• Kia Carnival (1,136 sales, up 105.2 per cent)
• Subaru Outback (1,233 sales, up 147.6 per cent)
• Nissan Qashqai (682 sales, up from two sales in Feb 2022)
• Volkswagen Tiguan (442 sales, up from 37 in Feb 2022)

The best sales performers in the luxury/sports vehicles segment in February 2023 included:

• Bentley (45 sales, up from 22 sales in February 2022)
• Ferrari (22 sales, up from 17 sales in February 2022)
• McLaren (four sales, up from one sale in February 2022)
• Lamborghini (15 sales, up one sale over February 2022)
• Porsche (614 sales, up 43 sales over February 2023)

Sales declines were recorded by Jaguar, Lotus, Maserati, and Rolls-Royce for the month.

Overall, Toyota led the market with a total of 14,332 vehicles sold. Mazda was second (7,667), followed by Ford (6,022), Kia (6,000) and Hyundai (5,504). 

The Ford Ranger was the highest selling model with 4,473 sales reported. Toyota’s Hi-Lux followed with 3,939. The Tesla Model 3 was third with 2,671, followed by Mazda’s CX-5 (2,600) and the Mitsubishi Outlander (2,166).

Economic trends

Moving forward, there is considerable uncertainty in the new vehicle market. With the economy showing signs of slowing and household savings falling to levels lower than that witnessed before the pandemic these, along with other financial pressures, may affect the new vehicle market over the year.

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