Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: May 16, 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 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, May 16, there were 2,174 dealer connections, which broke the uptick we saw last week across PriceMyCar when total queries had leapt to 2,340. This means that the week-on-week result was 166 fewer enquiries, equivalent to a drop of 7.1%.

The move came despite what was largely a ‘well-received’ Federal Budget, with a number of initiatives announced that will directly benefit a broad cross-section of the population. In particular, the extension of temporary ‘full expensing’ provisions is a win for businesses, and in theory, should provide some further support for the new car industry, with assets like vehicles among those that have been a direct beneficiary thus far.

New car interest by brand

Most of the leading names saw a pull-back last week, however, with the exception of Isuzu, the declines were relatively modest, typically down by low-to-mid single digits. In the case of Isuzu, the brand was coming off a record high the week prior, so this base may have proven to act as an anomaly in shaping the most-recent result. 

After Isuzu, the brand to see the next-largest drop-off was Subaru, with new car enquiries dropping from 155 to 118. There were also modest reductions in buying interest for the likes of BMW, LDV, MG and Jeep, representing a diverse sample of affected names.

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