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
New car enquiries were broadly in line with those from last week, sitting at a relatively healthy reading of 1,749. That is up just under 1% versus the week prior, when 1,734 connections were recorded in the seven-day period ending Sunday, May 29.
As the nation deals with an energy crisis, and households are now staring down the barrel of significantly higher electricity prices, it is encouraging to see new car buying interest remain relatively unaffected last week. We do expect these developments, as well as monetary policy managed by the RBA, to act as a headwind of sorts, but at least not as a handbrake.
Illustrating this point, the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence reading dropped 3.7 points to 87, the lowest result since mid-August, 2020. Compared with the same week a year ago, consumer confidence is now 23.7 points down from that reading of 110.7. Interestingly, 28% of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 42% say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
New car interest by brand
Top two names Kia and Mazda extended their popularity across the new car industry, with the duo both gaining ground last week and helping underpin overall growth in new car enquiries. Isuzu was another name where rising interest helped spark a good week for the marketplace.
In total, 39 brands featured among the most desirable makes of car through the PriceMyCar platform. The frontrunners continue to represent a growing portion of all new car buying interest, with the top five most sought-after brands representing 51.3% of all inbound queries, up from 50%.
Elsewhere, interest in Toyota and Volkswagen continues to lag their respective sales record in the industry, suggesting members visiting PriceMyCar for new car quotes are in many respects sounding out alternatives to these best-sellers.
|
Prospective New Car Buyer Numbers |
May 30 – Jun 5 |
May 23 – May 29 |
% Change in Enquiries |
|
293 |
265 |
10.6% |
|
|
219 |
199 |
10.1% |
|
|
137 |
146 |
-6.2% |
|
|
133 |
135 |
-1.5% |
|
|
116 |
122 |
-4.9% |
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