Australian new vehicle registration figures for July have been released, in the form of VFACTS, and they show a slight increase in overall sales compared with the same month last year.
One area that is clearly gaining interest is electric vehicles, with sales booming 276.6 per cent year-to-date (YTD). During July, 609 new electric vehicles were registered, adding to a seven-month tally of 10,289. Plug-in hybrid sales are up 99.4 per cent across the first seven months of the year, with 3519 sales, and 578 for the month of July. Meanwhile hybrid sales are up 14.4 per cent YTD, with 47,835 units, and 6779 for the month.
Obviously with more and more EVs being introduced to the market the sales figures are naturally going to rise. But, we notice petrol vehicle sales are down 12.3 per cent YTD while diesel sales are down 0.6 per cent over the same period.
Overall, 84,461 new vehicles were registered in July this year (we’ll call them sales), which is up 0.4 per cent compared with last July. Year-to-date, though, the numbers are down 4.5 per cent. Chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (the body that compiles VFACTS), Tony Weber, said:
“Vehicle and component manufacturing operations remain affected by plant shutdowns caused by Covid-19. Logistics, including shipping, remain unpredictable. While small growth on the same month in 2021 is encouraging, we do not expect the supply of vehicles to Australia to stabilise in the near future. Once again Australia is following the global trend of demand for new vehicles exceeding supply.”
Across the states and territories, NSW reported 26,519 sales (up 10.9 per cent on July 2021), Victoria bought 22,076 units (down 12.2 per cent), and Queensland reported 21,983 sales (down 13.2 per cent).
In Western Australia the state reported 9813 new registrations (down 5.8 per cent on July 2021), and South Australia bought 5649 units (up 13.3 per cent). Tasmania recorded 1327 sales (down 13.2 per cent). The ACT recorded 1175 sales (down 16.4 per cent), and the Northern Territory saw 756 sales (down 16.6 per cent).
TOP 10 BEST-SELLING CAR BRANDS IN AUSTRALIA
Toyota remains Australia’s favourite car brand, with the Japanese auto giant contributing 19,565 sales to that outright figure above. That’s up 10.9 per cent on last July, and translates to a YTD increase of 3.2 per cent. That’s pretty impressive considering it has had to wind back production capacity due to ongoing supply constraints, like most manufacturers.
Coming in second position for the month, Mazda managed to climb back from its fourth-place standing in June. It is usually in second place but has been falling behind in recent months. Hyundai and Kia were extremely close in July, with the parent brand just edging out in front. Year-to-date sales are down 16.7 per cent for Mazda, while Hyundai is up 2.9 per cent and Kia is up 7.0 per cent.
In other areas of the top 10, we see Subaru moved from ninth in June to eighth, and Isuzu moved up one from 10th to ninth. See below for the top 10 best-selling vehicle brands in Australia during July 2022:
- Toyota – 19,565 (down from 22,561 in June 2022)
- Mazda – 7879 (up from 6245)
- Hyundai – 6792 (down from 8259)
- Kia – 6711 (down from 8480)
- Mitsubishi – 5611 (down from 5846)
- Ford – 4439 (down from 4972)
- MG – 3018 (down from 4403)
- Subaru – 2822 (down from 3575)
- Isuzu – 2748 (down from 3457)
- Mercedes-Benz – 2479 (down from 3909)
TOP 10 BEST-SELLING PREMIUM CAR BRANDS IN AUSTRALIA
Mercedes-Benz remains the front-running premium brand, followed by BMW and then Audi. And that’s the order they fall in terms of YTD performance as well, with Mercedes down 8.6 per cent, BMW down 13.6 per cent, and Audi down 25.4 per cent for the first seven months of the year.
Further down the top 10 list, Genesis jumps into 10th spot for the month, with Tesla out of the list reporting just 4 sales in July. It seems Tesla numbers are very volatile, since the company starting including figures in VFACTS earlier this year.
All brands in the top 10 are seeing drops compared with the previous month of June, with Volvo and Porsche numbers in particular seeing a sharp drop, pretty much halving. We suspect the ongoing chip and parts shortage plays a big part here, especially as luxury vehicles rely on more chips than regular models.
See below for the top 10 best-selling premium car brands in Australia during July 2022:
- Mercedes-Benz – 2479 (down from 3909)
- BMW – 1866 (down from 2327)
- Audi – 1440 (down from 1618)
- Volvo – 647 (down from 1174)
- Lexus – 536 (down from 617)
- MINI – 320 (down from 323)
- Porsche – 306 (down from 629)
- Land Rover – 289 (down from 404)
- Polestar – 94 (down from 201)
- Genesis – 89 (down from 120)
TOP 10 BEST-SELLING VEHICLES IN AUSTRALIA
Although it couldn’t quite match its extraordinary effort of June, the Toyota HiLux thumped the sales charts in July. It reported 6441 units, which means it easily outsold its nearest competitors. However, we should start to see Ranger numbers increase soon thanks to the arrival of the next-gen model. But for July the figures were likely made up of the outgoing model. At least most of them anyway.
The Mazda CX-5 jumped back into the top 10 and straight into fourth spot, right behind its arch rival the Toyota RAV4, while the Kia Sportage and the Isuzu D-Max dropped back some spots from June, to eighth and 10th. The top 10 best-selling vehicles in Australia during July 2022 were as follows:
- Toyota HiLux – 6441 (down from 7582 in June)
- Ford Ranger – 2934 (up from 2802)
- Toyota RAV4 – 2437 (down from 3925)
- Mazda CX-5 – 2346 (up from 1116)
- Hyundai Tucson – 2186 (down from 2840)
- Toyota LandCruiser – 2146 (down from 2783)
- Toyota Corolla – 1982 (down from 2605)
- Isuzu D-Max – 1930 (down from 2383)
- Mitsubishi Triton – 1879 (down from 2014)
- Kia Sportage – 1837 (down from 2044)
SMALL CARS UNDER $40,000
Kicking off the segments, the Toyota Corolla remains in front, as suggested by being the only small car in the overall top 10 list above. The Hyundai i30 fell back a bit compared with June, but still holds onto second place here. The Mazda3 and Kia Cerato came as close as it gets, while the WRX outsold its humble sibling, the Impreza.
Total segment figures topped 6856 units for the month, which is down 16 per cent compared with July last year. Across YTD the numbers are down 21.8 per cent. See below for the top 10 best-selling small cars in Australia during July 2022:
- Toyota Corolla – 1982 (down from 2605 in June)
- Hyundai i30 – 1758 (down from 1801)
- Kia Cerato – 946 (down from 1597)
- Mazda3 – 934 (up from 405)
- Volkswagen Golf – 362 (down from 447)
- Subaru WRX – 351 (up from 326)
- Subaru Impreza – 308 (up from 242)
- Hyundai Ioniq – 83 (up from 75)
- Honda Civic – 68 (up from 63)
- Skoda Scala – 32 (down from 60)
SMALL CARS OVER $40,000
Luxury small cars were led by the Audi A3, interestingly. Perhaps as the latest model arrives. Sales are up a whopping 345.4 per cent YTD. This left the Mercedes A-Class, the usual top-seller, in second place.
This class reported 945 sales overall for the month, and that’s up 6.4 per cent on last July. Its YTD figure of 4833 units is down 29.3 per cent. See below for the top five best-selling vehicles in this segment during July 2022:
- Audi A3 – 330 (up from 270)
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class – 230 (down from 364)
- BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe – 149 (down from 153)
- BMW 1 Series – 140 (up from 114)
- Mercedes-Benz B-Class – 41 (down from 65)
MEDIUM CARS UNDER $60,000
It might be a boring sedan but it’s definitely a commercial success for Toyota. Yep, the Camry is back into slogging its rivals by a big margin. Even if you combine the sales of all other models sold in this class you’d still end up with fewer units than what Toyota achieved with the Camry. Sales are up 32.7 per cent for the month for the Camry but down 13.3 per cent YTD.
Class figures topped 1444 units in July, which is down 2.5 per cent for the month and contributes to a decrease of 15.3 per cent for the first seven months of the year. See below for the top five best-selling vehicles in this class during July 2022:
- Toyota Camry – 1222 (up from 558)
- Mazda6 – 101 (up from 39)
- Volkswagen Passat – 60 (down from 75)
- Hyundai Sonata – 24 (down from 35)
- Honda Accord – 18 (up from 7)
MEDIUM CARS OVER $60,000
Over in the premium sector, the Mercedes C-Class remains in front. All of the top five models saw a decent drop in figures compared with the previous month, including the favourite.
We notice the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe jumped into the top five for the month, and the figure doesn’t include the i4 which is the electric version (8 sales in July). The Polestar 2 is still going quite strong, especially for a relatively new and unknown model in this class.
Segment figures reached 996 units in July, and that’s up 0.5 per cent compared with last July. Year-to-date sales are up a whopping 50.5 per cent. See below for the top five best-selling vehicles in this segment during July 2022:
- Mercedes-Benz C-Class – 360 (down from 456)
- BMW 3 Series – 122 (down from 203)
- Mercedes-Benz CLA – 109 (down from 214)
- Polestar 2 – 94 (down from 201)
- BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe – 81 (down from 91)
LARGE CARS UNDER $70,000
Sadly, this segment is dwindling and only just holding on. Segment figures topped just 170 units, made up of just two models. However, sales for the month were up 66.7 per cent compared with last July, and up 58.6 per cent YTD. The only vehicles listed in this class in VFACTS for July 2022 recorded the following figures:
- Kia Stinger – 112 (down from 312 in June)
- Skoda Superb – 58 (down from 95)
LARGE CARS OVER $70,000
The premium class isn’t doing much better, reporting 170 sales as well but that’s with 11 models in the fleet. The leader was the Porsche Taycan in July, impressive for quite a high-end and very expensive model. It just eclipsed the BMW 5 Series.
Class figures overall are down 12.4 per cent for the month, and down 36 per cent YTD. The top five best-selling vehicles in this segment during July 2022 were as follows:
- Porsche Taycan – 42 (down from 47)
- BMW 5 Series – 41 (up from 39)
- Audi A6 – 33 (down from 53)
- Mercedes-Benz E-Class – 28 (down from 37)
- Maserati Ghibli – 9 (down from 13)
SPORTS CARS UNDER $80,000
It looks like the Ford Mustang is back on form, following a decent month in June and now even better in July. It was the most popular sports car overall for the month, although, the Subaru BRZ was right behind it. The new Toyota GR86 twin is arriving soon so it will be interesting to see how it shakes up the segment as well.
Overall segment sales topped 418 units for the month. That’s up 49.8 per cent on last July, but YTD figures are down 36.3 per cent. The top five best-selling vehicles in this class during July 2022 were as follows:
- Ford Mustang – 199 (up from 187 in June 2022)
- Subaru BRZ – 162 (up from 61)
- Mazda MX-5 – 45 (up from 38)
- MINI Cabrio – 9 (down from 19)
- BMW 2 Series – 3 (down from 27)
SPORT CARS OVER $80,000
The more premium sports cars were led by the BMW 4 Series in July, once again, with the Mercedes C-Class two-door not far behind. Surprisingly, the Chevrolet Corvette moved into third spot, despite being quite a niche and expensive model (in Australia) in comparison.
Total class sales hit 198 units for the month, which is down 27.7 per cent on last July, contributing to a 27.8 per cent decline in YTD sales. The top five best-selling models in this segment during July 2022 were as follows:
- BMW 4 Series – 53 (down from 90)
- Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe/Convertible – 46 (down from 88)
- Chevrolet Corvette – 24 (up from 21)
- Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe/Convertible – 20 (up from 26)
- Audi A5 – 15 (up from 12)
SPORT CARS OVER $200,000
The Porsche 911 continues as the most popular high-end sports car, perhaps rightly so, easily crushing all competitors in this field. Sales for the iconic model are up 44.8 per cent YTD.
Class figures topped 88 units in July, down 8.3 per cent from last July. Meanwhile the YTD figure of 714 units is up 7.2 per cent. See below for the top five best-selling vehicles in this class during July 2022:
- Porsche 911 – 50 (down from 129)
- Ferrari Coupe/Convertible – 15 (down from 20)
- Lamborghini Coupe/Convertible – 12 (up from 0)
- Aston Martin Coupe/Convertible – 4 (down from 14)
- Bentley Coupe/Convertible – 3 (down from 7)
COMBINED 4×2 AND 4×4 UTES
This segment will soon receive a shake-up, what with the next-gen Ford Ranger now hitting showrooms and soon Toyota will launch the updated HiLux. For now the numbers look pretty consistent and most models remain in the same positions as the previous month, except the Mazda BT-50 leap-frogged the GWM Ute to become fifth favourite.
See below for the sales results for 4×2 and 4×4 models combined (available in both driveline configurations) for July 2022:
- Toyota HiLux – 6441 (down from 7582 in June)
- Ford Ranger – 2934 (up from 2802)
- Isuzu D-Max – 1930 (down from 2383)
- Mitsubishi Triton – 1879 (down from 2014)
- Mazda BT-50 – 887 (down from 1205)
- Great Wall Motors Ute – 826 (up from 1315)
- Nissan Navara – 483 (down from 944)
- Great Wall Steed – 0 (equal)
Into the 4×4-exclusive ute class, and it’s no surprise the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series continues as the favourite. The LDV T60 jumped into second spot, while further down the SsangYong Musso moved into fifth spot. See below for the top five best-selling vehicles in this segment during July 2022:
- Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series – 975 (down from 1265)
- LDV T60 – 516 (up from 276)
- RAM 1500 – 383 (down from 517)
- Volkswagen Amarok – 227 (down from 324)
- SsangYong Musso – 197 (up from 121)
BEST-SELLING SUVS IN ALL SEGMENTS
Lastly, the ever-popular SUVs. The Toyota RAV4 was the most popular SUV outright for the month, but the Mazda CX-5 and even the Hyundai Tucson were not far behind. The most popular premium SUV for the month was the Audi Q3, again. It’s quite often in top spot, although it is a bit of a quiet achiever.
As for the key segments, the medium sub-$60k class posted the highest sales with 14,710 units (up 8.6 per cent YTD), followed by small sub-$40k class with 9178 sales (down 11.9 per cent), and then the large sub-$70k class with 9123 units (up 4.5 per cent YTD).
See below for the top five best-selling SUVs in all segments during July 2022:
SUV Light (no price range):
- Mazda CX-3 – 962 (down from 1201 in June)
- Hyundai Venue – 724 (up from 504)
- Toyota Yaris Cross – 616 (down from 710)
- Kia Stonic – 585 (down from 1071)
- Volkswagen T-Cross – 423 (down from 598)
SUV Small under $40,000:
- MG ZS – 1229 (down from 1402)
- Mazda CX-30 – 1226 (up from 908)
- Hyundai Kona – 931 (down from 1210)
- Mitsubishi ASX – 858 (down from 889)
- Kia Seltos – 744 (down from 1010) / Haval Jolion – 744 (up from 563)
SUV Small above $40,000:
- Audi Q3 – 549 (up from 542)
- Mercedes-Benz GLA – 325 (down from 554)
- Volvo XC40 – 267 (down from 494)
- BMW X1 – 225 (down from 380)
- Lexus UX – 102 (down from 103)
SUV Medium under $60,000:
- Toyota RAV4 – 2437 (down from 2586)
- Mazda CX-5 – 2346 (up from 1116)
- Hyundai Tucson – 2186 (down from 2840)
- Kia Sportage – 1837 (down from 2044)
- Mitsubishi Outlander – 1310 (down from 1714)
SUV Medium above $60,000:
- Mercedes-Benz GLC – 488 (down from 856)
- BMW X3 – 419 (down from 482)
- Lexus NX – 287 (up from 271)
- Volvo XC60 – 218 (down from 337)
- Audi Q5 – 140 (down from 367)
SUV Large under $70,000:
- Toyota Kluger – 1766 (up from 1655)
- Toyota LandCruiser Prado – 1047 (down from 1578)
- Isuzu MU-X – 818 (down from 1074)
- Subaru Outback – 759 (down from 1264)
- Ford Everest – 685 (down from 1234)
SUV Large above $70,000:
- Mercedes-Benz GLE – 352 (down from 410)
- BMW X5 – 261 (down from 345)
- Land Rover Defender – 153 (up from 146)
- Volvo XC90 – 136 (down from 313)
- Volkswagen Touareg – 111 (down from 128)
SUV Upper Large under $100,000:
- Toyota LandCruiser – 1171 (down from 1518)
- Nissan Patrol – 298 (down from 391)
SUV Upper Large above $100,000:
- Mercedes-Benz GLS – 98 (up from 63)
- BMW X7 – 89 (up from 85)
- Audi Q8 – 58 (down from 78)
- Mercedes-Benz G-Class – 44 (down from 161)
- Lexus LX – 30 (down from 37)
Total new vehicle sales in Australia in July 2022 were down on June 2022 figures. During July 2022, Australian consumers bought 84,461 vehicles according to VFACTS, as mentioned, compared with 99,974 in June. Overall sales for the month are up 0.4 per cent compared with July 2021, and down 4.5 per cent year-to-date.
