Australia’s vehicle industry faces supply issues into the future with constraints on global manufacturing to blame for a near 10 per cent fall in sales last month.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries says 99,974 cars and trucks were sold in June, down 9.7 per cent compared to the same month in 2021.

That left demand for the first half of 2022 at 537,858, a fall of 5.2 per cent.

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to hamper automotive manufacturing.

Combined with the war in Ukraine and shipping issues, the supply of new vehicles hitting Australia’s shores could not keep up with local demand.

“Globally, car makers are continuing to suffer from plant shutdowns,” Mr Weber said.

“In Europe, we have component supply heavily impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

“Microprocessors continue to be in short supply and global shipping remains unpredictable.”

“While demand for new cars remains strong in Australia, it is unlikely we will see supply chain issues resolved in the near future.”

Toyota led the market last month selling 22,561 vehicles ahead of Kia on 8480, Hyundai on 8259, Mazda with 6245 and Mitsubishi with 5846.

The Toyota Hi-Lux was the most popular model with 7582 units sold ahead of Hyundai’s Tucson on 2840 and Ford’s Ranger with 2802.

With escalating petrol prices, sales of electric cars continued to rise.

The FCAI said 1137 were sold last month compared to 526 in the same month last year.

Year-to-date, sales were up by more than 300 per cent to 9680.

Tesla remained the dominant player in the electric car market with its Model 3 accounting for almost half of the vehicles sold so far this year.

Tim Dornin
(Australian Associated Press)