2021 new car registrations up in every state bar one

Sales of new cars might have gone up overall last year, but one particular area experienced a drop compared to 2020.

The Australian Capital Territory was the only one of Australia's eight states and territories to go through a year-on-year decline in new vehicle registrations, dropping by 18.7 per cent from the year prior to record just 16,002 units sold in 2021.

This ranks the national's capital second-lowest on the list – ahead of the less-populated Northern Territory but also just behind the similarly-sized Tasmania, despite having a significantly higher median annual income than those from the Apple Isle.

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An overhead view of Pickles Auctions' Majura lot in 2020, full of written-off vehicles from the January storm

While Canberra was locked down last year for longer than it had been in 2020, this is one of a handful of factors as to why its new car sales dropped so much over the course of 12 months.

On January 20, 2020, a massive hail storm swept over Canberra, damaging thousands of cars within the city which were unable to be parked undercover.

Over the next few months, a total of 15,882 vehicles ended up at Pickles and Manheim auctions, affecting around five per cent of the ACT's registered vehicles.

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The 2020 hail storm mainly impacted cars parked outdoors within the city's Parliamentary Triangle

Although not all written-off cars would have been able to receive a pay-out which led to purchasing a new car, sources from inside the Canberran automotive dealership network have said there was a large number of people who were looking to buy new off the back of the hail storm.

This is backed up by sales data which showed the 19,693 new vehicle registrations in the ACT throughout 2020 was 22.6 per cent higher than the year prior, and the only state or territory to show an increase in sales throughout the first year of the pandemic.

While Canberra was also impacted by the first COVID lockdown at the start of 2020, it wasn't until August last year until the ACT went through its second lockdown, lasting for just over two months which hindered dealer trade.

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Once cars had been assessed and written-off, the COVID pandemic had just begun, with some reporting they couldn't get a new car within six months of the incident

As previously reported, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla also doesn't submit its vehicle registrations to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, meaning there's a 10,000+ unit black hole in Australia's registration data.

Home to just over 400,000 residents, a short drive around Canberra will show Teslas are a very popular option – unsurprising given the median income in the ACT makes it the only state or territory above the drive-away price of a standard-range Model 3 ($62,245).

In addition to this, the ACT Government offers some of the most competitive incentives in Australia for EV buyers, including no stamp duty, two years’ free registration and interest-free loans up to $15,000 to support an EV purchase.

Combine these factors together and it's easy to understand why there was a dip in registrations last year. We'll have to wait and see if the trend continues over the next 12 months.