It would be fair to say that in many respects Australia has not suffered the same crippling impacts of the pandemic as many other countries, and our outlook, both personally and financially has been able to remain largely optimistic. It has been interesting to watch, over the past 12 months, the rapid growth of demand in our motor vehicle industry once the initial shock of Covid-19 had passed.
This growth has highlighted some interesting outcomes:
What does this mean to you as a buyer?
According to Darren Lewis, Vehicle Procurement Manager for Prosperity, there are a couple of things that you need to consider. Firstly, you need to plan ahead. Floor stock is light in many dealerships, with some brands having taken future orders for several months now. Be prepared for a wait if you have a specific vehicle in mind. Secondly, with the used car market still sitting high, now is a great time to sell or trade your existing vehicle. Darren uses a network of dealers to source and negotiate the best trade-in prices for our customers and we expect this to continue at least until normal supply levels for new cars resumes.
We find it very encouraging that demand in both the new and used car sales markets continue to be strong in Australia. As new car shortages start to improve – Prosperity are well positioned to advise on the timing of when makes and models will be available, and to assist you to capitalize on the strong used car market as well.
- Our appetite for buying new cars has not diminished. In fact, demand currently far outstrips availability.
- YTD new vehicle sales are up 30.7% on 2020 according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries with the highest number of new vehicles sold on record for an April occurring this year.
- New cars have become increasingly hard to find. Although Australia has managed to avoid large scale infection rates with Covid-19 this has not been the case for most of the vehicle producing nations where high infection rates and struggling health systems have led to factory closures and lengthy production delays due to semi-conductor shortages. Not to mention delivery delays due to Suez canal impacts and our own quarantine delays once vehicles have been shipped and delivered to our docks.
- With sizeable delays in the delivery of some new cars, many buyers have turned to the used car market – driving prices for vehicles of all ages and quality upwards.