TableBuilder: Census of Motor Vehicles, Australia

Detailed statistics relating to vehicles registered with an Australian state or territory motor vehicle registration authority for in-depth analyses

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Using TableBuilder

The 2021 Motor Vehicle Census, Australia is the last that will be undertaken by the ABS. The ABS is assisting Austroads' investigation into establishing a replacement Motor Vehicle Census collection from 2022 onwards.

The Motor Vehicle Census includes all vehicles registered with a state, territory or motor vehicle authority for unrestricted use on public roads. This product provides a range of information about the release of microdata from the Motor Vehicle Census.

The Motor Vehicle Census is available in TableBuilder where you can produce your own tables and graphs.

Further information about TableBuilder and other general information to assist users in understanding and accessing microdata are available from the Microdata entry page.

Access to the data is available through TableBuilder, see How to apply. If you have already registered and subscribed to the Motor Vehicle Census in TableBuilder, you can log in here.

Use caution when cross classifying registration counts by vehicle make for Western Australia (WA) in 2020. Issues with coding make for WA in 2020 resulted in a high number of 'unknown' makes.

Caution should be taken when interpreting GVM for the 2013-2019 datasets. The wording for the following labels in the GVM classification are incorrect "Under 3.5 tonnes" and "3.5 to 4.5 tonnes". The correct wording is "Up to 3.5 tonnes" and "Over 3.5 to 4.5 tonnes" as shown in the 2020 and 2021 datatsets.

Available data items

The Motor Vehicle Census microdata product includes the following data items: 

  • Postcode
  • Engine capacity
  • Fuel type
  • Gross combination mass (GCM)
  • Gross vehicle mass (GVM)
  • Make
  • Model
  • Heavy vehicle code
  • No of axles
  • Number of cylinders
  • Seating capacity
  • State of Registration
  • Tare weight
  • Vehicle type
  • Year of Manufacture

The data items list in the Data downloads section is the definitive source of available data items and categories. Use the data items list to confirm the TableBuilder products fulfil the requirements for your research before purchasing your subscription.

Further information

See 9309.0 - Motor Vehicle Census, Australia for summary results.

Also included on the Methodology page of the above publication are:

  • data scope
  • data quality
  • methodology
  • glossary and abbreviations
  • quality declaration
 

TableBuilder User Guide

The TableBuilder User Guide provides you with information about how to create basic tables, custom groups, graphs and large tables. It also includes practical examples and video tutorials.

Confidentiality

A confidentiality process called perturbation is applied to the data in TableBuilder to avoid releasing information that may lead to the identification of individuals, families, households, dwellings or businesses. See confidentiality in the TableBuilder user guide.

Data downloads

Data item list

Data files
Download xls [4.66 MB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 9309.0.55.003.