It will come as no surprise that March saw a huge number of vehicles sales before the Clean Car Discount fees came into effect with commercial vehicles dominating registrations.

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that as anticipated in the lead up to the Clean Car Discount fees that became operative on 1 April, the March 2022 figures of 21,044 vehicles are the strongest for any month of the year ever, a massive 4374 units over the previous strongest in October 2018 (16,607 units).

Sales were dominated by the largest ever monthly registrations for light commercial vehicles, 9,841 units (including heavy commercial vehicles) as buyers rushed to avoid fees for high CO2 emitting vehicles that began on 1 April.

Registrations of 21,044 were up 35.8% (5,546 units) on March 2021. Year to date the market is up 12.5% (5230 units) compared to the first three months of 2021.

Mitsubishi took the overall market leader with 17% market share (3,566 units), followed by Toyota with 13% (2,767 units) and Ford in third spot with 11% market share (2,362 units). 

Market share year to date, Mitsubishi (18%) is ahead of Toyota (13%) and Ford (11%). 

There were 1,761 light vehicle and 16 heavy vehicle full battery electric vehicles registered in March. The top selling models were the Tesla Model 3 (949 units) followed by the MG ZS (129 units) and the Polestar 2 (105 units). 

The Model 3 was also the top passenger vehicle for the month.

There were 431 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles registered in March. The top selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (144 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (121 units) and then the MG HS (69 units). 

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

There were 496 hybrids registered in the month of March, with the top selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (84 units) followed by the Honda Jazz (42 units) and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (33 units). 

With the strong sales of utes for the month, not surprisingly the top spot for March 2022 went to the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 28% share followed by SUV medium vehicles with 17% then the SUV Compact with 13% market share. Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x2 were in fourth with 9% share. 

Year to date there has been a reduction on the overall share of the market for small vehicles, down from 56% for most of the 2021 to 48% for March.