Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: November 14, 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

In the week ending Sunday, November 14, new car enquiries placed via the PriceMyCar platform hit a multi-month high, surging 17.7% to touch 1,871 dealer connections.

It is the first time we have seen a decisive move higher in terms of new car buying interest since the likes of Victoria and New South Wales were plunged into extended lockdowns. 

The sharp uptick has certainly surprised us, especially in light of the leap in unemployment recorded throughout the week. The official unemployment rate jumped from 4.6% to 5.2%, with more than 140,000 jobs lost across the economy. 

However, the saving grace here may be the fact that this data was akin to looking in the rear-view mirror. The numbers were based on October’s data just before the east coast states came out of lockdown, which means many of these jobs may have been restored over recent weeks. If that is the case, we can expect an uplift in consumer sentiment that may prove favourable to new car buying.

New car interest by brand

As one might expect on the back of a big week for dealer connections across the broader car industry, there was widespread strength in buying interest across most of the leading makes and models.

Mazda is showing no signs of being likely to be displaced atop the list of the most sought-after brands, extending its lead thanks to another 14.4% rise in queries relating to the Japanese brand.

However, its regional peer, Mitsubishi, stormed into second place on the list and bypassed the likes of Kia and Ford, which each put on a positive showing.

Further down the list, Nissan, Volkswagen and M.G. saw higher interest flow through, while perhaps the only name to really take a backwards step during this seven-day period was Chinese brand LDV.

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