Number of registered vehicles
You are viewing an archived copy of the 2017 report.
Key finding
The total number of registered motor vehicles shows continued and sustained growth over time.
Our growing population drives continued and sustained growth of registered motor vehicles.
The amount of travel directly affects emissions from motor vehicles—i.e. when there are more vehicles, emissions go up as well, in principle. This is particularly the case when there are more heavy vehicles (trucks, buses) as they have higher emissions compared to light vehicles. On the other hand, new emission reduction technology likely offsets or even reverses these trends for specific air pollutants, but not for greenhouse gases.
The Motor Vehicle Census (MVC) provides detailed time-series data regarding the number of registered vehicles for each state and territory. The MVC provides information on the number of registered vehicles by year of manufacture at a particular date for the reporting year for various vehicle classes:
- passenger vehicles
- light commercial vehicles
- motorcycles
- trucks (light-rigid, heavy rigid, articulated and non-freight carrying)
- buses
- campervans
In Queensland passenger vehicles currently make up around 70 per cent of all vehicles registered.
Over the period 2001-2017, the proportion of light commercial vehicles, heavy rigid trucks, buses and motorcycles registered in Queensland increased while the proportion of passenger vehicle registrations decreased.
More information:
Indicator: Trend in number of registered vehicles
Trend in number of registered vehicles for the period 2001-2017. Figures in millions of registrations.