Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: November 28, 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

Another pull-back followed the slip in new car enquiries from the preceding week, with the total number of dealer connections across the PriceMyCar platform sinking 8.1% to 1,631. That means the drop from the most-recent peak is circling 15%.

Moderating numbers last week may be indicative of some concern as news emerged of another highly-mutated COVID variant, which has since been confirmed in Australia. Already, we have seen the government rush to introduce certain measures designed to mitigate the risk, which may be having an effect on anxiety and consumer sentiment.

While it remains to be seen how much caution is maintained with international borders from the middle of this month, the move could prompt a number of Australians to cancel overseas travel plans. Although that could free up disposable income for big-ticket purchases like new cars, we are also cognisant the population will be wary about the prospects of lockdowns and other restrictions that could cripple the economy and hit wage-earners hard.

New car interest by brand

Thanks to a resilient showing last week, Ford became the top name among the brands most searched for within the PriceMyCar community. The brand was one of the few across the market where there was a higher level of dealer connections received, and the only name to record positive growth among the top half-dozen brands.

It was a different story for long-term frontrunners Mazda and Kia, which were both hit by the slowdown last week. The duo slipped to second and third respectively, with leads for both dropping around 19% each.

Elsewhere, interest in Hyundai and M.G. remained relatively upbeat, as was the case for Volkswagen, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz.

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