Private buyers shy away from utes

The proportion of private buyers opting to get new utes and vans last month dropped substantially when compared to April 2021.

There were 739 light commercials registered in April 2022, which was the first month of the full clean car discount being in operation. Of those, only 18.1 per cent were private registrations. 

Last month’s 18.1 per cent compares to 27.3 per cent of light-commercial purchases being private in the same month of last year – 1,038 units out of a total of 3,808.

The number of passenger vehicles registered last month came in 2,902. Of those, 1,371 – or 47.2 per cent – were by businesses.

By way of comparison, there were 1,828 passenger vehicles sold in April 2021 with 934, or 50.1 per cent, being business transactions.

SUV registrations in April totalled 5,623 with 3,091 – or 55 per cent – being private. There were 6,979 SUVs sold in the same month of last year. Of those, 4,028, or 57.7 per cent, were private.