The latest Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) new vehicle sales figures have shown that there has been an almost 20% decline in new car sales figures for the year to date compared to 2019.
This continues the downward trend which has been occurring for more than two years, 28 months to be precise. Mr Weber, chief executive of the FCAI said that, given current market conditions and the industry’s long-term downturn, the July 2020 results were not unexpected.
“The Australian automotive industry, like many sectors in the Australian market, continues to face challenging and difficult conditions, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The extended Stage 4 Restrictions which have now been invoked in Australia’s second largest market, Victoria, will no doubt further challenge the industry during the coming months,” Mr Weber said.
The leading brand for July 2020 was once again Toyota, with 15,508 sales, followed by Mazda (7,806 sales), Mitsubishi (4,684 sales), Hyundai (4,634 sales), and Kia (4,625 sales).
Segmentation of the market continued to demonstrate the Australian consumer’s preference for Sports Utility Vehicles and Light Commercial Vehicles, with 70.9 per cent of the market devoted to these two segments. Passenger vehicles represented 25 per cent of the market.
This consumer preference was reflected in the top 10 vehicles sold, which included six SUVs and LCVs and four passenger vehicles. The top selling vehicle for the month was the Toyota RAV 4, with 4,309 sales, followed by the Ford Ranger (3,104 sales), Toyota Hi-Lux (2,947 sales), Toyota Corolla (2,192 sales) and the Hyundai i30 (1,745 sales).
Digging a little deeper into the data there is some positive news for brands at the less expensive end of the new vehicle market with Great Wall, Haval, LDV and MG all recording an increase in new car sales for the year to date.
The two premium brands that have had a good result in July are Audi, which is up 6.1% for the year to date and RAM, which continues its success in 2020 with sales up by 45.6% compared to 2019.
Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles continue to increase while internal combustion engine (ICE) powered cars decline. But as a percentage of the total Passenger, SUV, Light Commercial market, EVs still only represent 0.18% of all new vehicles sold (this figure excludes Tesla sales in Australia as these are not reported) and PHEVs are only 0.17% of the market.
Hybrids, which offer reduced fuel consumption without any of the compromises of an EV, are experiencing much better sales though and represent 6.4% of the total vehicles sold in 2020 almost three times as many compared to the same time last year (July 2019 – 2.3%).
With new car sales in decline it is not surprising then to find that Gumtree Cars, the #1 place for privately listed cars, had 155 million automotive searches in Q2 2020, an increase of 19% versus Q1. On average, there are more than 32,000 new listings each week on Gumtree Cars
Richard Dicello, Head of Motors at Gumtree Cars said: “Despite the disruption, 87 per cent of Gumtree Cars users are still intending to purchase their next vehicle within the next three months.”
“So whether your car has sat gathering dust, or you simply want to know how much something’s worth, we want to arm Aussies with the best insight into how they can utilise the second hand economy to their advantage,” added Dicello.
Gumtree Cars has brought its new Instant Valuation tool to market in response to the robustness of the used car market, with the tool already seeing more than 133,000 pricing assessments, with Aussies keen to put a value against their asset.
With more than 95,000 new and used car listings on Gumtree and 32,000 new cars listed each week, Gumtree Cars has a unique ability to with this data to understand trending behaviour in the automotive market and see what Aussies are listing and looking for. Of these new listings the most common marque listed for sale in the last six months is the Toyota (125,825), closely followed by Holden (100,870) and Ford (70,769).
Data drawn from Gumtree’s Q2 Auto Barometer insight also suggests that there’s still a market for pre-loved premium vehicles. Boosting the post-COVID recovery period, searches saw Japanese giant Lexus up 54 per cent, followed by Mercedes (+32%), Audi (+31%), Land Rover (+30%) and BMW (+25%).
In fact, the car that fetches the prettiest penny for sale on the site currently is a Rolls-Royce Phantom, so whether you’re looking at listing a Ferrari or a Fiat, you can still find the right buyer in your local community online with Gumtree Cars
For more information and to find out what your vehicle is worth, visit: https://www.gumtree.com.au/car-valuation
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.