Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: December 5, 2021

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

The immediate impact of concerns surrounding the Omicron variant were on full show last week, with consumers showing high levels of wariness as far as looking for new cars.

That meant the number of dealer connections across the PriceMyCar platform recorded one of the largest weekly slumps we’ve seen on record, with the issue clearly resonating with new car buyers more than any of us expected.

In total, the number of new car enquiries dropped by 31.9% compared with the week prior, coming in at a total of just 1,110. Given the number of leads were just shy of 1,900 just three weeks ago, the rapid drop is somewhat concerning, but we also feel as though this is likely to clear up once more information comes to light.

To date, it is understandable that consumers are treading carefully and uncertain what the future may hold as the Omicron variant starts to spread in the community across New South Wales. While governments have distanced themselves from lockdowns and travel restrictions, new car buyers may want to see some confirmation on this point before shelling out for larger-scale purchases like a new car.

The lead-up to Christmas would typically be a bumper period for auto-makers and dealerships across the country, so we’ll be watching the numbers closely from here on in.

New car interest by brand

With the wider market seeing a strong pull-back, all of the major manufacturers were unable to escape a slump in new car buying interest last week. The percentage drop in the likes of Ford, Mazda, Kia, Isuzu and Toyota was as pronounced as that of some of the smaller-volume brands, indicating a tough week for dealers.

Nissan was one brand that had a relatively good week, with interest in the Japanese brand remaining somewhat stable against the preceding week. RAM was another brand that fared reasonably well, as did Honda, which recorded one of its only week-on-week increases in dealer connections since the brand switched to a fixed-price agency model.

To get FREE access to instant pricing on just about every new car make and model, plus guaranteed discounts, sign up today