Strong New Vehicle Registrations Of Hybrids And PHEVs In April 2022 But Light Commercial Vehicles Crash

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that as anticipated following the introduction of the Clean Car Discount fees that became operative on 1 April, registrations of 9,756 vehicles for the month are the weakest month of April since 2015.

Registrations of 8,536 passenger cars and SUV’s were the second strongest month on record, largely due to sales of hybrid vehicles that are now eligible for a discount. However, registrations of 1,220 new commercial vehicles were down 72% with sales of light commercial vehicles coming in at just 730 units for the month.

It is the first time on over a decade that a ute has not made it to a top three monthly registrations. It is anticipated sales of utes will gradually recover as the year progresses.

Overall, registrations of 9,756 new vehicles were down 25.7% (3,377 units) on April 2021. Year to date the market is up 3.4% (1,853 units) compared to the first four months of 2021.

Key points

• Overall, April 2022 registrations of 9.756 vehicles were down 25.6% (3,377 units) on the same month in 2021, and are 3.4% up (1,853 units) on 2021 year to date.
• There were 572 pure electric vehicles, 1,113 PHEV’s and 2,145 hybrid vehicles sold for the month.
• Registration of 8,536 passenger and SUVs for April 2022 were down 3.3% (287 units) on April 2021, while commercial vehicle registrations of 1,220 were down 71.7% (3,090 units) compared to April 2021.
• The top three models for the month of April were the Mitsubishi Outlander (837 units), followed by the Toyota RAV4 (716 units) with the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross in third place (544 units). It is the first time in over a decade that a ute has not appeared in the top three models registered in a month.
• Registrations of heavy vehicles remains solid with 483 units for the month, while registrations of light commercial vehicles were down 72% in April last year.

Market leaders in April / 2022

Toyota regained the overall market leader with 18% market share (1,744 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 17% (1,623 units) and Suzuki in third spot with 8% market share (797 units).

Market share year to date, Mitsubishi (17%) is ahead of Toyota (13%) and Ford (9%).

BEVs, PHEVs and Hybrids

There were 570 light vehicle and 2 heavy vehicle full battery electric vehicles registered in April. The top selling models were the Polestar 2 (81 units) followed by the Nissan Leaf (71 units) and the Hyundai Kona (70 units).

Registrations of plug-in hybrids were strong with 1,113 units registered for the month. The top selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (497 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (479 units) and then the MG HS (28 units).

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

There were 2,145 hybrids registered in the month of April, with the top selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (525 units) followed by the Honda Jazz (461 units) and the Toyota Corolla (198 units).

SUV and passenger vehicle sales April / 2022

Toyota regained the market lead for passenger and SUV registrations with 19% market share (1,598 units) followed by Mitsubishi with 18% (1,570 units) and then Suzuki with 9% market share (794 units).

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Mitsubishi Outlander (837 units) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (716 units) and the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (544 units).

Commercial vehicle sales April / 2022

In a weak market for light commercial vehicles, Ford regained the market lead with 25% market share (305 units) followed by Toyota with 12% (146 units) and Fuso in third with 9% market share (105 units).

The Ford Ranger took top spot for the month of April as the bestselling commercial model with 24% share (287 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 8% share (103 units) and the Nissan Navara in third place with 7% market share (85 units).

Market share year to date, the Ford Ranger (21% share and 4,282 units) leads followed by the Mitsubishi Triton (21% share and 4,248 units) and then the Toyota Hilux (15% share and 3,073 units).

Segmentation – Growth in the Smaller SUVs

With the weak sales of utes for the month, not surprisingly the top spots for April 2022 went to passenger and SUV segments, with the small to medium segments accounting for 78% of April registrations.

The tops spots were the SUV medium segment with 27% share followed by SUV compact vehicles with 23% then the light passenger with 16% market share.

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