Rush To Beat Clean Car Discount Fees Leads To Highest Ever Monthly Sales Of New Vehicles

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that as anticipated in the lead up to the Clean Car Discount fees that became operative on 1 April, the March 2022 figures of 21,044 vehicles are the strongest for any month of the year ever, a massive 4,374 units over the previous strongest in October 2018 (16,607 units)

Sales were dominated by the largest ever monthly registrations for light commercial vehicles, 9,841 units (including heavy commercial vehicles) as buyers rushed to avoid fees for high CO2 emitting vehicles that began on 1 April.

Registrations of 21,044 were up 35.8% (5,546 units) on March 2021. Year to date the market is up 12.5% (5,230 units) compared to the first three months of 2021.

Key points

• Overall, March 2022 registrations of 21,044 vehicles were up 35.8% (5,546 units) on the same month in 2021, and are 12.5% up (5,230 units) on 2021 year to date.

• There were 1,777 pure electric vehicles, 431 PHEV’s and 496 hybrid vehicles sold for the month.

• Registration of 11,203 passenger and SUVs for March 2022 were up 10.8% (1,090 units) on March 2021, while commercial vehicle registrations of 9,841 were up 82.7% (4,456 units) compared to March 2021.

• The top three models for the month of March were the Mitsubishi Triton (2,266 units), followed by the Ford Ranger (1,933 units) with the Toyota Hilux in third place (1,580 units).

Market leaders in March / 2022

Mitsubishi took the overall market leader with 17% market share (3,566 units), followed by Toyota with 13% (2,767 units) and Ford in third spot with 11% market share (2,362 units).

Market share year to date, Mitsubishi (18%) is ahead of Toyota (13%) and Ford (11%).

BEVs, PHEVs and Hybrids

There were 1,761 light vehicle and 16 heavy vehicle full battery electric vehicles registered in March. The top selling models were the Tesla Model 3 (949 units) followed by the MG ZS (129 units) and the Polestar 2 (105 units).

The Tesla Model 3 was the top passenger vehicle for the month.

There were 431 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles registered in March. The top selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (144 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (121 units) and then the MG HS (69 units).

As anticipated sales of petrol hybrid vehicles were soft in March with some purchasers delaying their purchase until April to take advantage of the rebate these vehicles now attract under the Clean Car Discount.

There were 496 hybrids registered in the month of March, with the top selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (84 units) followed by the Honda Jazz (42 units) and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (33 units).

SUV and passenger vehicle sales March / 2022

Mitsubishi retained the market lead for passenger and SUV registrations with 11% market share (1,237 units) followed by Tesla with 8% (949 units) and then Toyota also with 8% market share (862 units).

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Tesla Model 3 (949 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (625 units) and the Toyota RAV4 (496 units).

Commercial vehicle sales March / 2022

Mitsubishi stormed to the market lead with 24% market share (2,329 units) followed by Ford with 21% (2,050 units) and Toyota in third with 19% market share (1,905 units).

The Mitsubishi Triton took top spot for the month of March as the bestselling commercial model with 23% share (2,266 units) followed by the Ford Ranger with 20% share (1,933 units) and the Toyota Hilux in third place with 16% market share (1,580 units).

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

Segmentation – Growth in the Smaller SUVs

With the strong sales of utes for the month, not surprisingly the top spot for March 2022 went to the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 28% share followed by SUV medium vehicles with 17% then the SUV Compact with 13% market share. Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x2 were in fourth with 9% share.

Year to date there has been a reduction on the overall share of the market for small vehicles, down from 56% for most of the 2021 to 48% for March. 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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