Tasmanian new vehicle sales rebound from coronavirus dive

Sales numbers went through the floor in the first half of last year.

For example, new vehicle sales in April 2020 were less than half of their total in April 2019.

It is a different story now, according to figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries' VFACTS report for September.

VFACTS said 14,340 new vehicles sold in the state in the first nine months of the year, compared with 10,689 in the corresponding period of 2020.

The first nine months of 2019 had 14,791 sales.

Similarly, September sales of 1645 vehicles were well ahead of September 2020 (1268).

However, they were relatively weak still, compared with 1927 in September 2019, which was, itself, well down on 2458 sales in September 2018.

Year to date sales this year were up by 34.2 per cent, ahead of national growth of 26.6 per cent.

Only the ACT was in negative territory year to date, although coronavirus-hit New South Wales went backwards comparing the last two Septembers.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said Australians bought 83,312 new vehicles in September.

That was an increase of about 21 per cent compared with the same period last year.

"These figures represent continuing demand for new vehicles across sectors despite lockdowns and the continued impact of the global microprocessor shortage," it said.

Chief executive Tony Weber said the microprocessor shortage and coronavirus restrictions were continuing to have an effect across Australia.

"Brands are working across their supply chains to deal with microprocessor issues and consumers are embracing online purchasing through click and collect delivery options," he said.

"In many respects, these figures give the industry great encouragement and excitement for what will be possible in 2022 when lockdowns will hopefully be a thing of the past."

In Tasmania, SUVs continued to dominate sales.

They accounted for 825 of the 1645 September sales, followed by light commercials (398), passenger vehicles (351) and heavy commercials (71).

Toyota extended its year to date market leadership with 311 September sales, ahead of Suzuki (132), Hyundai (115), Mazda (113), Ford (110), Mitsubishi (107) and Subaru (104).