Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: April 10, 2022

In this series, which we aim to bring to you every week, we’ll be detailing some of the key numbers and trends that we’re seeing in terms of dealer connections made through our site.

As this data is considered somewhat representative of broader industry activity, and serves as one of the more insightful leading indicators for potential car sales, we hope it will fulfil a few purposes for our broad audience. First, to document not just how we’re performing as a business, but how dealers and the wider market stand to perform, so you don’t have to wait til that next set of official sales data.

Without further ado, here’s what happened over the last week.

Total new car enquiries

After three weeks in a row where dealer connections slumped, there was a modest rebound in the week ending Sunday, April 10, 2022. The number of new car enquiries rose 7.9% from 1,168 to a total of 1,260.

The increase does little to provide any reassurance at this point that the downtrend has come to an end, so we will need to continue monitoring sentiment and the like over the coming weeks.

Last week saw the Reserve Bank of Australia make clear that it is prepared to abandon its ‘patient’ stance on monetary policy. That has prompted a number of economists and banks to predict that the first interest rate hike could be as soon as June, which would follow the federal election.

On that note, the federal election is itself another source of uncertainty for new car buyers and businesses to contend with, and some may be looking for a result first before they make a decision on large household purchases like a new car.

New car interest by brand

There was little movement among the leading car brands listed on the PriceMyCar platform, with all but a couple of the frontrunners able to hold onto ground or increase their territory in the eyes of new car buyers.

Kia is still out in front, while Mazda and Hyundai follow next. Ford closed the gap on the top three names, also leapfrogging Mitsubishi in the process. 

LDV and M.G. both had a solid week, albeit from a low base, but we have seen from the sales results this year that both brands are gaining traction and slowly becoming household names - at least in the case of M.G.

And finally, there was a net difference of one less brand featuring across the platform last week, with no searches for Citroen or Tesla vehicles, but a new entry in Hino.

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