VFACTS March 2023: SUVs and utes dominate as no passenger cars make top-10

After two months of solid improvement in a post-COVID sales environment, Australian new car sales steadied in March, as delivery constraints posed problems.

According to monthly results from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), March's sales were 3.9 per cent shy of the same month last year with 97,251 units registered, down from 101,233.

The market dropped 3.9 per cent this month, but year-to-date sales remain up 2.5 per cent in 2023, which FCAI chief executive Tony Weber says is a better indication of the situation.

“March was a solid month for new car sales given the supply constraints car makers are facing both domestically and internationally… year-to-date sales have increased 2.5 per cent which is a better indicator of the underlying strength of the market,” said Mr Weber.

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March followed the trend of February, with Toyota down on its typical performance – in this case, 39 per cent – which is enough to account for the lower posted sales on its own.

Toyota Australia vice president sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, confirmed the brand is working to improve supply throughout the year.

"The March results confirm our earlier advice that the first quarter would be challenging for deliveries. We expect some improvement in supply during the second quarter and a further pick-up during the second half of the year.

"Demand for Toyota vehicles remains strong and our order bank is very healthy. For the full year, we are expecting to deliver more than 200,000 vehicles for the 19th time in the past 20 years," Hanley added.

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New South Wales sold the most vehicles with 30,256 registrations, ahead of Victoria at 24,107 and Queensland with 22,244 sales.

Western Australia (10,129), South Australia (6543), Tasmania (1620), the ACT (1576) and the Northern Territory (776) followed.

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🥇 Australia’s top 10 cars for March 2023

The three best-selling vehicles in March 2023 were all utes, with the Toyota HiLux (4583) narrowly scraping ahead of the Ford Ranger (4508), and the Isuzu D-Max in third (2789).

Mitsubishi has plenty to celebrate with its Outlander medium SUV scoring fourth place in the sales race (2169), and posting a generous 34 per cent increase over last year.

Fifth spot went to the Tesla Model Y (1938) outselling its sedan sibling for the first time. In year-to-date standings, the Tesla Model 3 is in third, ahead of the Mazda CX-5, though both vehicles had a less encouraging March, with the Mazda in sixth (1917) and the Tesla in 11th place (1640).

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Seemingly from nowhere, the Subaru Forester scored seventh place (1881) followed by the MG ZS small SUV (1844).

An uncharacteristically-weak showing from the Toyota RAV4 put it in ninth for March, and the medium SUV usually seen vying for third place is in seventh year-to-date. The Isuzu MU-X posted a strong result in 10th with 1745 sales.

There was no single passenger car in this month’s top 10 sellers; five were medium SUVs, three utes, and one small and large SUV apiece. The usual small car performers, the Hyundai i30 and Toyota Corolla, finished in 13th and 17th, respectively.

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In tables: Top 10 models for March 2023

In tables: Top 10 model year-to-date 2023

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🥇 Australia’s top 10 car brands for March 2023

Ups and downs 🔼 🔽

It’s a story we’re very accustomed to in ranking terms, but Toyota’s number-one spot looks less assured than usual, with 13,223 deliveries putting it 39 per cent down on March last year (▼ from 21,828 this time last year)

Conforming to the status quo, Mazda followed in second with 8243 deliveries (▼ from 11,248), and Ford third registering 6485 vehicles (▲ from 4245), with 85 per cent of its sales coming from Ranger and Everest.

Kia had another solid month with 6403 sales (▲ from 6051) – just 82 cars behind Ford – while Mitsubishi (5863, ▼ from 9007) overtook Hyundai (5369, ▼ from 6516) in March.

Following the traditional car brands were ladder frame specialist Isuzu (4534, ▲ from 6051 ) and Chinese-owned MG (4007, ▲ from 3962). An old stalwart, Subaru, posted cracking sales in March (3852, ▲ from 2279), led by many Forester deliveries. It was enough to sneak into ninth place.

Rounding out the top 10 this month was Tesla, with 3578 registrations. The electric car brand seems to have figured out its early drop-shipment woes and is now a familiar face among Australia’s best-selling cars.

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In tables: Top 10 brands for March 2023

In tables: Top 10 brands year-to-date 2023

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And the rest…

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Size and Shape: Market segment results

The number one category overall was medium SUVs, with 22,086 deliveries, up 19 per cent compared to last year.

Utes also flexed their muscles, securing 21 per cent of sales this month, followed by small and large SUVs (13 per cent).

Passenger cars had a decreased share again in March, making up just 17.7 per cent of new-car sales.

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In tables: New car sales by segment and size for March 2023

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New-car sales by fuel type in March 2023

Electric vehicles accounted for 6.8 per cent of registrations this month and outsold hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. When totalled, zero and low-emissions vehicles accounted for 12.8 per cent of new-car sales this month.

Though it's encouraging to see the increase in uptake of low-emissions vehicles, as Mr Weber pointed out, the top-three sellers remain diesel utes that emit more than 190g/km of CO2.

“If we want more zero and low emission vehicles on our roads, then we must provide the necessary recharging infrastructure and move to implement an ambitious yet achievable fuel efficiency standard which will encourage manufacturers to allocate more of the limited supply to Australia,” Mr Weber added.

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In tables: New car sales by fuel type for March 2023

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Country of Origin: Where Australia’s new cars came from in March 2023

Australians still love Japanese cars, with a quarter of sales hailing from the country, then followed by Thailand.

However, like February, China once again beat Korea to the podium, posting a 31.1 per cent increase on March last year and up 70.7per cent year-to-date.

A whole host of new Chinese brands starting sales in Australia can be partially thanked for the growth, with LDV, MG, Chery, and GWM among the fresh names.

But established companies are increasingly looking to China for manufacture, think Polestar, Tesla, BMW and more.

Following the big nations was Germany, with 4996 cars delivered to Australia in March, then by the United States, England, and Mexico.

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In charts 📊

March 2023 – Top 20 models

March 2023 – Top 10 brands

March 2023 - Overall segment sales

March 2023 - Category sales

March 2023 - sales map

March 2023 - buyer type

March 2023 - Model sales race