Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: July 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

The number of dealer connections in the week ending Sunday, July 10, 2022, was 1,411, which represented an improvement of about 9% versus the prior week. 

Last week’s interest rate hike did little to stifle the upturn in new car buying sentiment, which lately has been driven more by volatility than any specific theme. Nonetheless, new car buyers in need of finance are staring down the barrel of higher loan rates, and with more rate hikes on the horizon, it will only get more difficult for households to spread their budgets to new purchases, especially if they are already paying a mortgage.

A growing number of car manufacturers have also been raising prices multiple times over recent months, largely in an attempt to compensate for supply constraints that are weighing on overall sales. Undoubtedly, this has had an impact on overall search queries through the PriceMyCar platform, as new car buyers are looking at having to pay thousands of dollars more for the same vehicle than at the start of the year.

New car interest by brand

No surprise as to which brand extended its dominance atop the list of the most sought-after makes of car, with interest in Kia spiking higher last week by 21.5%.

On the other hand, with Mazda only inching fractionally higher, Hyundai was able to pull level with its rival thanks to a strong showing. 

Ford also put in a respectable performance, as did high-flying brand M.G, while the likes of BMW, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Isuzu recorded relatively low-key movements compared with the preceding week. Toyota interest also declined, but there is little doubt the brand remains the best-seller across the market, with new car buyers instead using PriceMyCar as a medium to investigate alternatives.  

On a different note, last week was the first time we saw search volume in one of the latest car brands to arrive down under, Cupra.

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