Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: September 26, 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

Building on last week’s encouraging set of results, there were 1,645 new car enquiries in the week ending Sunday, September 26, which is 2.5% more than the preceding seven-day period.  While not a major increase, we do seem to be steadily moving away from the recent lows that came in the midst of the east coast lockdowns.

Now that clearer plans have emerged with respect to the easing of lockdowns, new car buying sentiment does appear to have improved in recent weeks. We expect that, much like last year after extended periods of lockdown, pent-up buying may be a feature in the coming weeks as a significant portion of the population return towards living in more ‘normalised’ conditions.

One concern that new car buyers might wish to pay attention to, however, is the issue of stock shortages. On the back of semiconductor shortages and supply chain issues, a wide number of auto-makers are still reporting issues in terms of getting access to stock, which means potentially lengthy delays for those eyeing up their next vehicle. That means the sooner you start looking around today, the better your odds of taking stock of your next vehicle in a timely fashion.

New car interest by brand

Ford became the most sought-after brand last week after enquiries related to the brand rose 15%, pushing it back above the 200 mark. 

Kia, a reliable presence in the charts, saw a steady level of interest as the week prior, recording 189 dealer connections.

The biggest move, however, was saved for Mazda, with the Japanese brand leaping into third position among the most desirable brands across the PriceMyCar platform. There was a 35.5% increase in inbound queries for Mazda vehicles, resulting in a total of 164 dealer connections.

On the contrary, Isuzu saw the biggest fall among the leading brands last week, with interest down by 21.2% to 152 new car enquiries. 

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