The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the 2021 Motor Vehicle Census for Australia, showing for the first time that more than 20 million motor vehicles were registered on Australian roads, with the national fleet increasing by 1.7 per cent from 2020.

The census shows statistics relating to vehicles that were registered on 31 January 2021 with a motor vehicle registration authority.

All states and territories reported an increase in registrations, with Queensland, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory experiencing the highest rise up 2.3 per cent from the previous year. Victoria’s fleet grew the least by 0.7 per cent.

Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria accounted for 76 per cent of the national fleet, with NSW holding the highest number of registrations (5.9 million). In contrast, the Northern Territory witnessed the lowest number of registrations with 163,000.

Passenger vehicle registrations increased by 1.2 per cent however, their share of the fleet fell 0.4 percentage points to 73.7 per cent. In contrast, light vehicle registrations increased by 3.3 per cent, rising to 17.5 per cent of the registered fleet.

For the sixteenth consecutive year, Toyota topped the passenger vehicles with an astounding 3.0 million registrations.

Light rigid trucks continued to have the largest growth rate in registrations with an increase of 6.0 per cent. This was followed by articulated trucks with 4.6 per cent.

Petrol-powered vehicles decreased by 1.0 percentage points to 71.7 per cent of the national fleet, while Diesel powered vehicles increased by 0.8 percentage points to 26.4 per cent of all vehicles.

Some good news for electric vehicles, registrations increased by 62.3 per cent from the previous year, with a total of 23,000 EV registrations.

Finally, the average age of vehicles across Australia increased to 10.6 years. The Tasmanian fleet was the oldest at 13.3 years, while the Australian Captial Territory had the youngest vehicles, with an average of 9.5 years.

The 2021 Motor Vehicle Census is the final edition to be released. Going forward, the ABS will assist Austroads’ investigation into establishing a replacement motor vehicle census collection from 2022.

Source: ABS | Motor Vehicle Census, Australia

6 July 2021