VFACTS: August sales best since 2017

NEW car sales rebounded strongly in August with a total of 95,256 units sold in Australia across the month’s 26.8 selling days – an increase of 14,057 units or 17.3 per cent against the same month last year  or an average of 656.3 vehicles per day

Latest figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) also show battery electric vehicles (BEV) reached a record market share of 4.4 per cent in the month. 

Tesla contributed heavily to the BEV share, owning 3.6 per cent of the total market last month with a big shipment of its Model 3 and initial deliveries of the Model Y that combined to place the electric-only brand seventh in the month’s sales table with 3397 units – ahead of MG, Subaru and Volkswagen.

The Model 3 ranked fourth in the table of best-selling models, its 2380 deliveries in August placing it ahead of the Toyota LandCruiser, Mazda CX-5, Toyota Corolla, Mitsubishi Triton, Hyundai i30 and Isuzu D-Max.

Australia’s total passenger car market was up by 2658 units (15.3 per cent) over August 2021, the SUV market up 590 units (18.5 per cent), the light commercial market up 3236 units (16.8 per cent) and the heavy commercial market up 573 units (15.7 per cent).

Toyota again dominated in August with 20,616 units sales – or a 21.6 per cent share of the market. Toyota was followed by Mazda (8824 units and a 9.3 per cent share) and Kia with 6380 units (6.7 per cent).

The Big T also leads Australia’s year-to-date (YTD) sales figures with 161,558 unit sales or 22.5 per cent of the market. YTD figures show Toyota is almost 100,000 units ahead of second-placed Mazda in 2022 (66,635 units and a 9.3 per cent share) and third-placed Mitsubishi (53,739 and 7.5 per cent), the Japanese importer up 1.1 per cent on its own position last year.

So far this year, 717,575 new cars have been sold in Australia, representing a 17.3 per cent increase over the same period in 2021.

According to FCAI CEO Tony Weber, the positive sales result is encouraging given the industry’s global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The August VFACTS sales are the best August result since 2017. This gives hope that the supply of vehicles to the Australian market is beginning to show signs of improvement,” he said.

On a model-by-model basis, August figures show the Toyota HiLux in first place with unit sales of 6214 ahead of the Ford Ranger (4497) and Toyota RAV4 (2482). The Tesla Model 3 ranked fourth with 2380 sales, part of what Mr Weber says is a broader move towards fully electric vehicles.

“We have seen strong sales of battery electric vehicles in August, with Tesla alone selling 3397 vehicles,” he said.

“In the month, EV sales were 4.4 per cent of the total market. This is the highest market share for pure battery electric vehicles ever recorded in a single month in Australia.

“Year-to-date EV sales are two per cent of the total market, hybrids are 7.6 per cent and plug-in hybrid vehicles are 0.6 per cent. Combined electrified vehicles are on just over 10 per cent of total sales in 2022.”

State-by-state figures show new vehicles sales have increased across most Australian states and territories.

The ACT increased 49.8 per cent with 1410 vehicles sold, New South Wales rose 40 per cent to 30,501 unit sales, while the Northern Territory (up 4.2 % to 816), Queensland (11.7% to 21,379) and Victoria (18.4% to 25,053) all made ground.

Sales in all other states were down with South Australia decreasing by 9.7 per cent to 5702 units, Tasmania down three per cent to 1611 units, and Western Australia slipping 6.5 per cent to 8784 units.

Top 10 vehicle sales by make (August 2022):

Top 10 vehicles sales by model (August 2022):

State by state (August 2022):