Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: August 21, 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 several weeks where new car enquiries were sitting rather stable, the total number of dealer connections in the week ending Sunday, August 21, 2022, rose by 34%. 

The big increase corresponded with some internal changes here at PriceMyCar, as last week we unveiled the official acquisition of our platform by one of the industry’s fastest-growing, and now leading auto industry publishers, CarExpert.

That means we’re now on the starting blocks of a fast-tracked stage of expansion, where we expect the volume of queries to pick up thanks to the scale of our new parent company. 

In any case, last week’s jobs data also provided a positive backdrop for the overall scene. The unemployment rate came in ahead of expectations and eased lower to a new half-century low, now sitting at just 3.4%. With the jobs market at full capacity, new car buyers have at least one tailwind in their favour, even if surging inflation has posed a significant challenge for households across the country.

New car interest by brand

There were big gains across the board last week, especially at the pointy end of the market, where the most popular car brands only grew in popularity. 

By far the biggest mover was Mazda, where the total number of new car enquiries rose more than 60% versus the week prior. That was enough to catapult the Japanese brand into second place, although not to be outdone were Mitsubishi and Ford, where interest was up by almost 50% for both brands.

Kia remains well out in front, however, further down the list, Toyota, Subaru, and Volkswagen had an exceptional week. By way of comparison, Nissan was arguably the most notable underperformer last week, with overall queries going in reverse, despite the broad-based strength across the new car market.

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