VFACTS: Smooth selling in February

AUSTRALIAN new vehicle sales have risen by 1.8 per cent over the same month last year with a total of 86,878 units delivered across 24 selling days – the same number of selling days as for February 2022 and a 2023 average of 64.1 vehicle sales per day.

Data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows the passenger vehicle market is up by 4.8 per cent (or 750 units) when viewed against the same period in 2022.

The SUV market is also up, by 6.6 per cent (2953 units), and the heavy commercial vehicle market leapt 26.4 per cent (794 units). However, the light commercial vehicle market is down 13.6 per cent (-2959 units).

Toyota was the market leader again in February selling a total of 14,332 vehicles beating second-placed Mazda by 6665 vehicles and 7.7 market share points. Mazda placed second with 7667 units followed by Ford (6022), Kia (6000) and Hyundai (5504).

Australia’s best-selling vehicle for the month of February was the Ford Ranger with 4473 sales reported. Toyota’s HiLux placed second with 3939 deliveries, ahead of the Tesla Model 3 (2671), Mazda CX-5 (2600) and Mitsubishi Outlander (2166).

The Toyota LandCruiser (300 Series and 70 Series combined) also made an appearance in the top 10 best-sellers list last month, with 1783 deliveries representing a 23.6 per cent year-on-year uptick.

“This is the best February result since 2019,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber. “It is particularly pleasing given global and domestic supply constraints.”

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 6.8 per cent of overall sales with 5932 delivered in February.

Zero- and low-emissions vehicle sales, which includes BEVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) accounted for 13.9 per cent of all vehicles sold (12,102 units).

“Growing sales of electric vehicles proves that where a battery electric product exists which suits the driving habits, needs and finances of Australian motorists, they will purchase these vehicles,” said Mr Weber.

“The number of low emission vehicle sales demonstrates that there is an appetite among Australians for environmentally friendly vehicles.

“However, if we wish to accelerate this transition to a broader range of consumers in all parts of the country, Australia needs to adopt a fuel efficiency standard,” he said.

On a state-by-state basis, increases in sales were recorded for the ACT (up 7.2 per cent with 1454 vehicles sold), New South Wales (up 4.7 per cent with 27,600 units), the Northern Territory (up 2.8 per cent with 725 units) and Western Australia (up 16.7 per cent with 9815 units).

Sales across all other states and territories fell, with Tasmania taking the greatest market share slide (down 9.4 per cent with 1414 units) ahead of South Australia (down 4.5 per cent with 5549 units), Queensland (down 2.8 per cent with 18,427 units) and Victoria (down 1.3 per cent with 21,894 units).

The FCAI notes that a total of 13,625 vehicles of the total sold across February were sourced from China last month, making it the third-highest country of origin for new vehicles. Japan remains the largest supplier of new vehicles in the Australian market (24,805), followed by Thailand (18,557) and South Korea (12,246).

Top 10 vehicle sales by make (February 2023):

Top 10 vehicle sales by model (February 2023):

State by state (February 2023):

*All sales data supplied courtesy of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.