Australia’s automotive industry was firmly back to business in July.
carsales.com.au posted a Unique Audience (UA) of 4.84m according to Nielsen’s Digital Ratings Monthly report. This result was 35% higher than the same month in 2019.
carsales session metrics were also up considerably in July. In total, carsales served 34.7m sessions in the month — a new record and up 40% on the same month last year. Visitors on carsales were highly engaged, spending an average of over 35 minutes on site.¹
Both results ensured that carsales outperformed the overall automotive category as measured by Nielsen, which realised Unique Audience and sessions growth of 27% and 31% respectively year-on-year.
“The strong car shopping and research momentum witnessed in May and June on carsales.com.au, continued in July,” said Kellie Cordner, Chief Marketing Officer at carsales.
“It’s great news for our dealer and automaker clients. Quality traffic delivers quality sales prospects.”
And carsales research has reinforced that consumers were in market in July. Indeed, carsales’ latest consumer sentiment survey indicated 26.8% of respondents were ‘ready to buy now’. This is up from 20.6% recorded in carsales surveys in May.
With new Covid-19 restrictions introduced in July, there was less urgency from respondents in Victoria.
Engagement with carsales Editorial content — another key indicator of interest in new cars — continued to grow in July. A combined UA of 1.36m consumers interacted with written and video reviews, comparison tests and news, across carsales editorial pages.
The unique connection of carsales editorial content to dealer and automaker inventory cements its increasing importance and influence in the car-buying journey. With just one click on carsales, buyers can transition from researching a car via editorial content, to browsing a dealer or automaker’s virtual showroom and making an informed purchase decision – all from the comfort of home.
Mirroring May and June search behaviour, the Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton and Toyota HiLux were the three most popular new cars searched on carsales in July.
Well-known nameplates from the top-selling medium SUV segment were also high-considered by buyers, with the Toyota RAV4, Volkswagen Tiguan and Mazda CX-5 among the most popular new cars searched in July. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class was the only sedan to make the top 10.
According to FCAI VFACTS, the Toyota RAV4 was the nation’s top selling new car in July with over 4300 deliveries. It is the first time in the nameplate’s history 26-year history that it has topped the charts.
For a full wrap of July new car sales, click here.
