The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries says 1,081,429 new vehicles were retailed last year, a three per cent improvement on 2021, with demand exceeding supply.

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the pathway through the COVID-19 pandemic, microprocessor shortages and bottlenecks due to global shipping issues had created challenges for car makers and their dealer networks.

“While 2022 has been a year of resilience and recovery, 2023 is shaping up as one of the most significant in recent history, particularly in terms of the development of policies that set the direction for the future decarbonisation of the light vehicle fleet,” Weber said.

Toyota was the top-selling company in 2022 with 231,050 vehicles sold, ahead of Mazda on 95,718, Kia on 78,330 and Mitsubishi on 76,991.

Toyota also had the top-selling car with 64,391 HiLux’s sold, ahead of the Ford Ranger with 47,479 and Toyota’s Rav4 third with 34,845.

The top three was mirrored in South Australia, with 3205 HiLux’s sold, compared with 2776 Rangers and 2737 RAV4s.

More than 69,000 new vehicles were sold in SA in 2022, up slightly from 2021, with Toyota claiming 24 per cent market share, streets ahead of Mazda on 10 per cent, Mitsubishi on 9 per cent, Kia on 6.6 and Ford 6.3.

Toyota’s strong result was its 20th consecutive year as the market leader in Australia, with the HiLux the most popular vehicle for the seventh straight year.

But electric cars are also on the rise in SA, with 1426 sales in 2022 compared to 314 the year before, with Tesla selling 634 cars locally.

SA’s Motor Trade Association said that while EVs represent only 2.05 of sales in 2022, petrol car sales dropped by 6.6 per cent.

“Without question more and more motorists are making the conscious decision to reduce their emissions but this is also being complemented by an increase in new electric vehicle models and manufacturers entering the Australian market at competitive prices,” MTA CEO Darrell Jacobs said.

“This underscores how local automotive workers and businesses need to be adequately prepared to sell, service and repair EV’s which they are working on for the first time.

“The sales data also suggests how hybrids will continue to play an important role in our decarbonisation efforts, outselling electric vehicles in SA last year by a factor of almost five to one.”

The FCAI’s Tony Weber said that with sales of battery electric vehicles rising to 3.1 per cent of the total market, a fuel efficiency standard, technology mix, infrastructure investment and behaviour change initiatives were also needed to reduce emissions and create a cleaner fleet.

“We need to use the full range of low-emission technologies that are available and affordable for the majority of Australians, not just those who can afford premium vehicles,” he said.

-with AAP