Rising demand for hybrid and electric vehicles helped drive a record number of new vehicle registrations last year. 

There were 165,287 registrations in 2021 - up 38.3 per cent on 2020, figures from the Motor Industry Association show. 

The 2021 number beat out the previous strongest year in 2018 in which there were 161,519 registrations. 

David Crawford, Motor Industry Association chief executive, said the strongest December on record solidified 2021 as the strongest year for passenger and SUVs, second strongest for commercials and strongest year ever overall. 

"For 2022 the order book remains strong, with long wait lists for popular models." 

Crawford said demand for vehicles with some form of electrification grew strongly in 2021. 

Its records show 6,899 battery electric vehicle were registered compared to 1554 in 2020. While plug-in hybrid electric vehicle registrations rose from 756 to 2461 and hybrids demand rose from 8667 to 13,794. 

In July last year the Government introduced taxpayer-funded rebates of $8,625 for a new electric car and $5750 for a plug-in hybrid car. 

Small to medium segments comprised 56 per cent of sales for the year. For the month of December, the top segments were SUV medium with 19 per cent market share, followed by SUV compact with 17 per cent market share and Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 with 16 per cent share. 

For the year, the top models were the Ford Ranger (12,580 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux (8,430 units) and the Mitsubishi Outlander (6,506 units) 

Market leaders in December 2021 

For the month of December Toyota remained the overall market leader with 21 per cent market share (2,526 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 14 per cent (1,699 units) and Ford in the third spot with 9 per cent market share (1,076 units). 

For the year, the top three market leaders were Toyota with 18 per cent market share (29,258 units) followed by Mitsubishi with 12 per cent (20,140 units) and Ford with 10 per cent market share (17,286 units, of which the Ford Ranger comprised 12,580 units). 

BEVs, PHEVs and Hybrids for 2021 

There were 1,133 light vehicles and 10 heavy vehicle full battery electric vehicles registered in December. The top-selling models were the Tesla Model 3 (619 units) followed by the Hyundai Kona (138 units) and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (70 units). 

For the year the top-selling models were the Tesla Model 3 (3,271 units) followed by the MG ZS (872 units) and Hyundai Kona (825 units). 

There were 149 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles registered in December. The top-selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (40 units) followed by the MG HS (39 units) and then the Toyota Prius (22 units). 

Hybrids continued their consistent strength with 1,235 vehicles registered in the month of December. 

The top-selling hybrid models for the year were the Toyota RAV4 (4,596 units) followed by the Toyota Corolla (1,987 units) and Toyota Highlander (942 units). 

SUV and passenger vehicle sales December 2021 

Toyota retained the market lead for passenger and SUV registrations with 19 per cent market share (1,474 units) followed by Mitsubishi with 12 per cent (907 units) and then Hyundai with 9 per cent market share (649 units). 

The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Tesla Model 3 (619 units) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (533 units) and the Mitsubishi Outlander (509 units). 

For the year the top-selling passenger and SUV models were the Mitsubishi Outlander (6,506 units) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (6,212 units) and the Mitsubishi ASX (5,036 units). For the first time a fully electric vehicle made it to the top five for the year, with the Tesla Model 3 in the fifth spot (3,271 units). 

Commercial vehicle sales December 2021 

For the month of December, Toyota regained the market lead with 23 per cent market share (1,052 units) followed by Ford with 18 per cent (824 units) and Mitsubishi third with 17 per cent market share (792 units). 

For the year, Ford retained the commercial market lead with 26 per cent (13,744 units), followed by Toyota with 21 per cent (11,375 units) and Mitsubishi with 10 per cent (5,558 units).