The FCAI, the peak body for Australia’s automotive industry, has released sales figures for
the 2021 calendar year.
A total of 1,049,831 vehicles were sold across Australia in 2021, which represents a 14.5
per cent increase on 2020.
FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said that in the context of pandemic restrictions limiting
access to dealerships and international supply issues, the new vehicle market in Australia
remains positive.
“Despite the pandemic restricting access to showrooms in 2021, Australian consumers
found ways to purchase new vehicles and did so in solid numbers,” Mr Weber said.
“The global shortage of microprocessors, compounded by the pandemic, had an impact on
the number of cars sold throughout Australia. Automotive manufacturers are continuing to
work to strengthen supply chains in 2022.”
Electric vehicles saw an increase in sales of 191.1 per cent on 2020 figures. “While this
number may appear impressive, it is important to note that overall electric vehicle sales as
reported through VFACTS account for just 0.49 per cent of the total market share.”
“In this context, we must recognise the policy objective should be to lower our CO2
emissions rather than meeting sales targets of particular types of technology. The FCAI
maintains the need for national leadership in the form of a technology agnostic and
achievable emissions reduction target,” Mr Weber said.
This is consistent with the FCAI’s voluntary CO2 emissions standard for Australia’s new
vehicle industry which was released in 2021.
“Give us the target and we will give you the technology mix to get there,” Mr Weber added.
The preference for SUVs and light commercial vehicles has continued to increase
throughout 2021. A total of 531,700 SUVs were sold, which is a 16.9 per cent increase on
2020.
Light commercials are up 23.2 per cent on last year’s figures with a total of 253,254
vehicles sold.
Passenger vehicles totalled 221,556 sold throughout the year, which is a decrease of 0.2
percent on 2020 figures.
Toyota was the highest selling brand for the year, with 223,642 vehicles sold resulting in
21.3 per cent of overall market share. In second place was Mazda (101,119 vehicles sold,
9.6 per cent market share). In third place was Hyundai (72,872 vehicles sold, 6.9 per cent).
In fourth place was Ford (71,380 vehicles sold, 6.8 per cent market share). Fifth place
went to Kia (67,964 vehicles sold, 6.5 per cent market share).
