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
Less than one week out from Christmas, dealer connections are still showing no signs of picking up speed, sinking further as the industry sees a marked slowdown in activity.
In total, there were 796 new car enquiries in the seven-day period ending Sunday, December 19, down from 872 in the preceding week. That represents another 8.7% slump in queries, and an even further departure from the recent high that was honing in on 1,900 leads in late November.
Upbeat employment data did little to give any impetus to the new car industry, with more than 360,000 jobs added across November, and the unemployment rate dropping sharply to just 4.6%. However, consumer confidence was down 1% versus expectations for an increase of 0.7%, illustrating that new car buyers are likely to remain on edge at the moment with epidemiologists calling for more restrictions as the Omicron variant spreads quickly.
New car interest by brand
With dealer connections now sitting at multi-month lows, there is fairly limited scope for queries to slip much further, with the majority of last week’s decline attributed to Mazda, where interest waned by more than 25%.
The fall in other brands was more muted last week, with Ford, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Volkswagen all recording a modest pullback.
On the contrary, however, Kia was able to improve its position last week as it was one of the only leading auto brands where queries rose week-on-week. It is now equal-second among all brands as the most sought-after make of car.
Other improvers included M.G. and Jeep, with both brands gaining traction. M.G. has become one of the most popular brands in 2021 as its push in the new car market sees the Chinese brand become a top 10 seller.
|
Prospective New Car Buyer Numbers |
Dec 13 – Dec 19 |
Dec 6 – Dec 12 |
% Change in Enquiries |
|
78 |
84 |
-7.1% |
|
|
77 |
69 |
11.6% |
|
|
77 |
109 |
-29.4% |
|
|
73 |
79 |
-7.6% |
|
|
65 |
68 |
-4.4% |
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