Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: June 13, 2021

In this series, which we hope to bring to you on a regular basis, 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

In the week ending Sunday, June 13, the number of new car enquiries across the Price My Car platform eased marginally. Amid ongoing lockdown restrictions across Melbourne, the total number of dealer connections fell 4.8% versus the week prior, coming in at a total of 2,106.

Consumer confidence has been shaken amid Victoria’s fourth COVID lockdown. Data from the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment showed a 5.2 percentage-point fall to 107.2 in June, bringing the total drop across the last two months to 9.7 percentage points. This has had an impact on demand for discretionary items, and while car sales are still ticking along showing robust growth, it must be noted that this is coming off an extremely low base last year, and while government support payments were flowing.

New car interest by brand

With interest in utes at elevated levels, and tax perks still in place ahead of the EOFY, Isuzu edged up the list into second position among the most sought-after car brands in the Price My Car community. 

While interest pared back in Mazda, it still remains atop the charts as the most-favoured brand, and with a number of models catering to the needs of Aussie motorists, it’s not hard to see why. There were also modest declines in dealer connections for the likes of Kia, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Nissan. 

Meanwhile, despite both being further down the list in terms of buying interest, there was an uptick in demand for pricing around Honda and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Both brands are set to move to a fixed-price agency model starting in July, which may explain why some new car buyers could be looking at the brands before changes result in less bargaining power for motorists.

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