Our take on the latest Car registrations (Wed 1 Mar 2023)
First-time car registrations fall 2.3% in February (seasonally adjusted)
Registrations of new cars fall 11% from January (seasonally adjusted)
Small car registrations declined 6.6% in February (seasonally adjusted)
The key numbers...
- Total first-time car registrations fell 2.3% in February and cumulatively down 9.3% since registrations started to ease in November 2022 (both figures seasonally adjusted).
- Only 14,021 cars were registered in February, the lowest monthly total since December 2012, excluding the 2020 lockdown months of March and April.
- Recent market trends towards new and small vehicles have started to moderate, with new car registrations down 11% and small car registrations down 6.6% from January (both figures seasonally adjusted).
- Used car registrations totalled 7,762 in February, up 9.0% (seasonally adjusted) from the previous month, surpassing the monthly total for new car registrations, which totalled 6,259.
Car registrations continue to edge down
Total monthly car registrations, seasonally adjusted
...and our reaction
- Car sales softened again in February, extending the recent decline for a third consecutive month. Interestingly, the small, new, and “green” (hybrid and electric cars) market segments, which were strong throughout most of 2022, have weakened over the last three months.
- Easing fuel prices might have played a role in moderating the trend to small, new, and green cars. MBIE fuel price monitoring indicates 91-octane petrol prices declined 21% between June 2022 and January 2023. Falling petrol prices make petrol-powered vehicles relatively more affordable (when compared to hybrid or electric vehicles), and within the spectrum of petrol vehicles also make larger and less fuel-efficient cars cheaper to run.
- Higher financing costs will have contributed to the decline in overall car sales in recent months, with continued hikes to the official cash rate by the Reserve Bank driving up retail interest rates. These increases will particularly limit new car sales, which are more likely to be purchased on finance.
- Lastly, the Clean Car Discount scheme was introduced 11 months ago now, which has given dealers and purchasers plenty of time to adapt to the incentives introduced with the policy. The Discount scheme initially changed buyer preferences, but perhaps the buyers who were easy to sway towards small, new, and green cars have all made their purchases for now – leaving buyers in the market with more conventional preferences for cars.
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