February 2022 New Vehicle Registrations Remain Strong

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that the February 2022 figures are the strongest for the month of February ever. Registrations of 12,551 were 0.5% up on February 2021.  Year to date the market is down 1.2% (316 units) compared to the first two months of 2021.

“As anticipated with the pending changes to the Clean Car Discount scheme from 1 April, there has been a shift in sales patterns ahead of the full feebate coming into effect. Sales of passenger cars and SUVs has softened slightly whereas sales of light commercial vehicles, most of which will pay a fee from 1 April onwards, have strengthened. This is expected and will likely to be repeated in March sales. Once the full Clean Car Discount (the feebate side of the scheme) comes into effect on 1 April it is anticipated sales of light commercial vehicles will soften”. 

Key points

• Overall, February 2022 registrations of 12,551 vehicles were up 0.5% (63 units) on the same month in 2021.
• There were 689 pure electric vehicles, 388 PHEV’s and 1020 hybrid vehicles sold for the month. 
• Registration of 7,680 passenger and SUVs for February 2022 were down 11.8% (1,032 units) on February 2021, while commercial vehicle registrations of 4,871 were up 29.0% (1,095 units) compared to February 2021.
• The top three models for the month of February were the Ford Ranger (1111 units), followed by the Toyota Hilux (890 units) with the Mitsubishi Triton in third place (855 units).

Market leaders in February / 2022

Toyota remains the overall market leader with 16% market share (1,972 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 15% (1,927 units) and Ford in third spot with 11% market share (1,400 units). Market share year to date, Mitsubishi (18%) is ahead of Toyota (12%) and Ford (10%). 

BEVs, PHEVs and Hybrids

There were 684 light vehicle and 5 heavy vehicle full battery electric vehicles registered in February. The top selling models were the Tesla Model 3 (351 units) followed by the Hyundai Kona (54 units) and the Kia Niro (35 units). 

There were 388 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles registered in February. The top selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (228 units) followed by the MG HS (57 units) and then the Mitsubishi Outlander (25 units). 

There were 1020 hybrids registered in the month of January, with the top selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (187 units) followed by the Honda Jazz (143 units) and the Toyota Yaris (126 units). 

SUV and passenger vehicle sales February / 2022

Mitsubishi retained the market lead for passenger and SUV registrations with 14% market share (1,044 units) followed by Toyota with 12% (890 units) and then Kia with 10% market share (750 units). 

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Mitsubishi Outlander (546 units) followed by the Tesla Model 3 (351 units) and the Suzuki Swift (290 units).

Commercial vehicle sales February / 2022

Ford regained the market lead with 23% market share (1,141 units) followed by Toyota with 22% (1,082 units) and Mitsubishi third with 18% market share (883 units).

The Ford Ranger regained the top spot for the month of February as the bestselling commercial model with 23% share (1,111 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 18% share (890 units) and the Mitsubishi Triton in third place also with 18% market share (855 units). 

Market share year to date, the Ford Ranger (22%) leads followed by the Mitsubishi Triton (21%) and then the Toyota Hilux (15%).

Segmentation – Growth in the Smaller SUVs

The top spot for February 2022 went to the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 21% share followed by SUV Compact vehicles with 19% then the SUV Medium with 16% market share.

Year to date there has been a small reduction on the overall share of the market for small vehicles, down from 56% for most of the 2021 to 53% for February. This reflects the strong sales of light commercial vehicles ahead of the 1 April feebate scheme (Clean Car Discount) taking effect.  

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