VFACTS: November sales up 17.9 per cent

THE Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has released new-vehicle sales figures for November 2022 showing a total of 95,080 vehicles were registered for the month – or 561.9 units per day – taking the year-to-date total to 993,509 units and assuring a million-sales market for the full calendar year.

November sales figures represent a 17.9 per cent increase over the eleventh month of 2021, with rental fleet purchases particularly strong in the lead-up to the first major holiday period since border restrictions eased.

The FCAI reports rental fleet sales for the month of November at 6599 units, up 36.3 per cent over the same time last year.

Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) continue to rise, with a total of 13,415 new energy vehicles sold across the month’s 25.7 selling days.

According to the FCAI, a total of 4457 BEV, 429 PHEV and 8529 HEV units were sold in November.

Nearly a quarter of the month’s BEV sales were attributed to the BYD Atto 3 that achieved a 5.2 per cent share of the sub-$60K medium SUV segment with 845 deliveries during November. Tesla sales were almost half of the BEV total at 2196 units, the Model Y earning a spot in the nation’s top 10 best-selling vehicles, while the BEV-only Polestar brand contributed 240 sales.

Passenger vehicle sales slipped 0.8 per cent (or 140 vehicles) against the same month last year while the SUV market continued its meteoric rise; up 31.9 per cent (or 12,662 units). 

Light commercial vehicle sales were likewise strong, growing 6.1 per cent (or 1227 units) over November 2021.

Heavy commercial vehicle sales are exceptionally strong, jumping 18.0 per cent (or 692 units) versus this time last year.

Model by model, the Toyota HiLux was again Australia’s best-selling model in November with 5440 sales reported, narrowly pipping the Ford Ranger and its 5073 unit sales.

Spurred by strong rental fleet sales, the Toyota Corolla moved to take third place (with 3732 unit sales), followed by the MG ZS (3051) and Toyota LandCruiser (2296).

Toyota led the market overall once more in November reporting total sales of 20,107 new vehicles. Mazda ranked second for the month with 7549 unit sales, followed by Ford (7165), Kia (6120) and Mitsubishi (5559).

In keeping with the positive news, sales across all states and territories were up for the month of November, the biggest increase coming from Western Australia with a 36.5 per cent jump (and 9668 units sold).

Similarly, Queensland demonstrated an impressive shift over the previous month with a 28.9 per cent swing upstream (20,621 units), while Tasmania and Victoria also showed strong customer sentiment, jumping 23.0 and 19.1 per cent respectively (1783 and 25,534 units).

Elsewhere, the Northern Territory was up 14.1 per cent (815 units), South Australia up 12.3 per cent (5673), New South Wales up 7.5 per cent (29,545) and the Australian Capital Territory up 2.5 per cent (1441).

“The automotive sector is continuing to recover from pandemic related shutdowns, a global shortage of microprocessors and the general supply chain uncertainty we experienced over the last two years,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber.

“The industry will deliver the one millionth vehicle to the market in 2022 next week. While this is positive news, many customers are still facing extended wait times for their vehicle, with expected delivery dates for some models beyond 12 months.”

Top 10 vehicle sales by make (November 2022):

Sales volume by model (November):

State-by-state (November):