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
Just as quickly as new car enquiries leapt a couple weeks ago, the numbers have turned on a dime, with Australian consumer sentiment hitting a two-year low. There were 1,192 dealer connections in the week ending Sunday, November 6, 2022, down 4.5% versus the week prior.
Westpac’s monthly survey, released earlier this week on Tuesday, shows that the impact of elevated inflation, rising interest rates, and real wage losses are crushing Australian consumers’ views of the economic outlook.
The bank’s Consumer Sentiment Index fell 6.9% in November, with that increase jumping significantly compared with the 0.9% decline recorded in October.
It follows concerning economic data that showed Australia’s official inflation rate hit a 32-year high in the September quarter, while the nation’s central bank has been forced to upgrade its forecast for peak inflation in the final quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, the RBA also passed another rate during the week in review, which means borrowers now must contend with an official cash rate of 2.85%.
New car interest by brand
Mazda and Mitsubishi made encouraging gains last week, while the likes of Ford, Isuzu, Nissan, Subaru, and Volkswagen all managed to maintain a relatively steady level of new car buying interest among prospective buyers.
On the other hand, Kia, Hyundai, and Toyota were the brands with the biggest week-on-week pullback, with the lattermost name seeing its short time among the top five come to a swift conclusion.
In total, 43 different car brands featured among last week’s price requests, which is an above-average number compared to the total volume of queries received.
|
Prospective New Car Buyer Numbers |
Oct 31 – Nov 6 |
Oct 24 – Oct 30 |
% Change in Enquiries |
|
182 |
196 |
-7.1% |
|
|
167 |
166 |
0.6% |
|
|
92 |
77 |
19.5% |
|
|
88 |
76 |
15.8% |
|
|
82 |
102 |
-19.6% |
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