Our take on the latest Car registrations (Tue 2 Aug 2022)
New car registrations down 4.4% in three months to July (sa)
Used car registrations down 48% in the three months to July (sa)
Hybrid and EV registrations make up 44% of registrations in July
The key numbers...
- Car registrations totalled 16,293 in July, down 29% from July 2021. Large cars were mostly responsible for this decline. New large registrations fell by 26%pa, and used large registrations fell 54%pa.
- Small cars have declined since July 2021 to a lesser extent, with new small cars down 6.2%pa and used small cars down 4.9%pa.
- Only 65% of registrations in the year ended July were for petrol vehicles, the lowest level since our data series began in January 2017, as the share of hybrid and electric vehicle registrations continued to grow, totalling 28% of annual registrations.
Used cars continue declining after March feebate spike
First time registrations, annual running total
...and our reaction
- Total car registrations declined again July, with unabated inflation and rising interest rates maintaining pressure on household budgets.
- Car registrations remain particularly weak for large or used cars, which are down 42% and 37% from July 2021 respectively. The lower affordability in these categories, as a result of the Clean Car feebate scheme and high fuel prices, is pushing households towards small or new cars.
- Petrol prices reached $3.10/L for 91-octane in July, with high running costs supporting the shift in household demand towards smaller, newer, and therefore more fuel-efficient cars.
- High fuel prices may also have supported the ongoing transition to hybrid and electric vehicles, with full-battery EVs (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) showing particularly strong registrations growth, up an average of 221% and 119%pa respectively. However, three non-plug-in hybrids were registered for every BEV and PHEV registration, illustrating the small size of the rapidly growing plug-in market.
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