9309.0 - Motor Vehicle Census, Australia, 31 Jan 2011 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/07/2011   
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NOTES


ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

This publication presents statistics relating to vehicles which were registered at 31 January 2011 with a motor vehicle registration authority. Motor vehicle registration statistics reflect the information as recorded in registration documents.

Statistics are provided on vehicle types comprising passenger vehicles, campervans, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and motorcycles. Vehicle characteristic information includes make of vehicle, year of manufacture, type of fuel that the vehicle was registered as using, and Gross Vehicle Mass or Gross Combination Mass for trucks. The size of the motor vehicle fleet is also compared with the estimated resident population.


CHANGES TO THIS PUBLICATION

Change in reference period for 2011

The 2011 Motor Vehicle Census (MVC) was conducted on 31 January 2011. Over recent years, censuses have been conducted on an annual basis at 31 March with the latest occurring in 2010, ten months before the current Motor Vehicle Census. For ease of comparison with data in previous years, all percentage movements in this publication have been converted to an annual basis. The process for deriving this annual percentage change is explained in the Glossary.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


TOTAL NUMBER OF VEHICLES ON REGISTER

There were 16.4 million motor vehicles, including Motor cycles, registered in Australia for the 2011 Motor Vehicle Census (MVC). On an annual basis this is 2.3% higher than the number of registrations from 2010 and an increase of 14.5% since 2006, when there were 14.4 million vehicles registered in Australia. The average annual growth over this five-year period was 2.7%.

Type of vehicle - Census years 2006, 2010 and 2011

2006
2010
2011
Change 06/11
Change 10/11
Average annual growth 06/11
no.
no.
no.
%
%
%

Passenger vehicles
11 188 880
12 269 305
12 474 044
11.9
2.0
2.3
Campervans
41 520
48 504
50 653
22.8
5.3
4.2
Light commercial vehicles
2 114 333
2 460 568
2 530 630
20.4
3.4
3.8
Light rigid trucks
95 452
115 845
119 539
26.2
3.8
4.8
Heavy rigid trucks
288 094
315 433
318 223
10.8
1.1
2.1
Articulated trucks
71 680
82 436
85 965
20.7
5.2
3.8
Non-freight carrying trucks
20 293
22 533
22 656
12.1
0.7
2.3
Buses
75 375
86 367
87 883
17.2
2.1
3.2
Motor cycles
463 057
660 107
678 790
48.5
3.4
8.2
Total motor vehicles
14 358 684
16 061 098
16 368 383
14.5
2.3
2.7



In the 5 years between the 2006 and 2011 MVC, the Passenger vehicle fleet has grown by 11.9% from 11.2 million to 12.5 million. Light rigid trucks and Motor cycles were the vehicle types showing the largest growth over this time, with increases of 26.2% and 48.5% respectively. Heavy rigid trucks had the smallest increase of 10.8% over the same period.


STATES AND TERRITORIES

New South Wales had the largest share of the Australian fleet in the 2011 MVC with 4.8 million vehicles or 29.2% of all registered vehicles. Victoria had the second largest share with 4.2 million (25.6%) followed by Queensland with 3.4 million vehicles (20.8%). The Northern Territory had the smallest share with 0.1 million (0.8%) registered vehicles. These shares are comparable with the distribution of the population across states and territories.

State of Registration - Census years 2006, 2010 and 2011

2006
2010
2011
Change 06/11(a)
Change 10/11(a)
Average annual growth 06/11(a)
no.
no.
no.
%
%
%

New South Wales
4 268 631
4 681 471
4 778 421
12.4
2.5
2.4
Victoria
3 740 726
4 112 908
4 198 371
12.7
2.5
2.4
Queensland
2 897 867
3 358 221
3 401 932
18.0
1.6
3.4
South Australia
1 137 957
1 239 672
1 261 925
11.3
2.2
2.2
Western Australia
1 600 566
1 870 068
1 912 739
20.2
2.7
3.8
Tasmania(b)
374 846
410 210
419 009
12.2
2.6
2.3
Northern Territory
114 015
134 700
137 082
21.0
2.1
3.9
Australian Capital Territory(c)
224 076
253 848
258 904
16.1
2.4
3.0
Australia
14 358 684
16 061 098
16 368 383
14.5
2.3
2.7

(a) Percentage change movements have been converted to an annual basis. See Glossary for further information.
(b) Excludes vehicles with registration expiry less than one month before the census date.
(c) See Technical Note ACT Data regarding 2006 data.



VEHICLES AND RESIDENT POPULATION

In Australia there were 730 motor vehicles per 1,000 resident population in the 2011 MVC. This compares with 696 vehicles per 1,000 residents in 2006, an increase of 34 vehicles per 1,000 residents over this time.

Western Australia had the highest rate of all states and territories with 829 vehicles per 1,000 residents in 2011, while the Northern Territory had the lowest rate with 596 vehicles per 1,000 residents. New South Wales, which had the largest vehicle fleet at 31 January 2011 and the largest population at 30 September 2010, averaged 659 vehicles per 1,000 residents, the second lowest of all states or territories.

Motor vehicle fleet by population(a), State/territory of registration
Graph: Motor vehicle fleet by population, by State and territory of registration



AVERAGE AGE OF THE FLEET

For 2011, the average age of all vehicles registered in Australia was 10.0 years for the second consecutive MVC. This is slightly newer than the 10.1 years recorded in 2006. Over this five-year period, all vehicle types except Passenger vehicles, Articulated trucks and Buses recorded a decrease in the average age. Campervans showed the largest decrease in average age, by 1.1 years, followed by Light commercial vehicles, Heavy rigid trucks and Motor cycles which all decreased by 0.4 years. Articulated trucks increased by 0.1 years over this five-year period.

Estimated Average Vehicle Age(a) of vehicle fleet(b)
Graph: Estimated average vehicle age of vehicle fleet



TYPE OF FUEL

For the 2011 MVC, 13.4 million vehicles in Australia (82.1% of the total vehicle fleet) were registered with a petrol fuel type. This compares with the 12.5 million vehicles registered in 2006, when 87.1% of registrations were in this category.

The number of vehicles registered with diesel fuel in 2011 accounted for 14.7% (or 2.4 million vehicles) of the total fleet compared with 10.6% of vehicles in 2006.

Greater numbers of Passenger vehicles and Light commercial vehicles registered with diesel fuel were the major contributors to this increase. While the number of Passenger vehicle registrations increased by 11.9% between the 2006 and 2011, the number of Passenger vehicles registered with diesel fuel increased by 102.2%.

Over the same period Light commercial vehicle registrations in 2011 with diesel fuel have increased by 67.4%.


CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FLEET

Passenger vehicles accounted for 76.2% of all vehicles registered in Australia for the 2011 MVC, down from 77.9% in 2006. All states and territories have recorded decreases in the proportion of Passenger vehicles over this time. This decrease has been offset by increases in the proportion of Light commercial vehicles and Motor cycles in all states and territories.

Passenger vehicle registrations(a), Percent change - Census years 2006 and 2011
Graph: Passenger vehicle registrations percentage change by Census years 2006 and 2011


Light commercial vehicles accounted for 15.5% of all vehicles registered in Australia for 2011, the second highest proportion behind passenger vehicles. Since 2006, Queensland had largest percentage growth (26.6%), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (26.5%) and Western Australia (26.1%). New South Wales had the smallest growth (15.4%).

Motor cycles accounted for 4.1% of all vehicles registered in Australia for the 2011 MVC, up from 3.2% in 2006. Western Australia recording the largest percentage increase (69.5%), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (53.9%).

Rigid trucks accounted for 2.7% of the total number of vehicles registered in 2011 and 2006. Registrations of Rigid trucks with a gross vehicle mass (GVM) greater than 20 tonnes have increased by 26.2% since 2006, while registrations of Rigid trucks with a GVM of 20 tonnes or less have increased by 12.1% over the same period.

For the 2011 MVC, Articulated trucks only accounted for 0.5% of the total number of registered vehicles in Australia. From 2006 to 2011, the number of registrations of Articulated trucks with a GCM over 20 to 40 tonnes has decreased by 21.7%, while the number of Articulated trucks with GCM over 60 to 100 tonnes and greater than 100 tonnes has increased by 44.5% and 51.8% respectively.