Demand for cars continues
The summer period has been positive for the Australian automotive industry. After the COVID-affected lows of 2020, new car sales rebounded in December, January and February.
Indeed, there were more than a few green shoots in terms of the wider economy. Indicators such as GDP, consumer savings levels and employment numbers, in addition to rising property prices across the country, now point towards recovery and sustained vehicle demand.
And it’s not just new car showrooms that are benefitting from increased spending on cars. Aftersales departments and aftermarket accessory sellers are also reporting increased traffic and sales.
Used car ‘Time to sell’ continues to fall on carsales, while prices on popular used models are up. As you’ll discover later in this edition, the median listed prices of popular SUVs and LCVs that facilitate domestic travel and recreation experiences are leading the surge…
carsales launches new brand campaign
Cars are central to the lives of Australians and carsales loves cars. In an exciting development, carsales has just launched its new brand repositioning to reinforce these sentiments.
‘Everything You Auto Know’ is the result of a partnership with leading creative agency BMF. It is designed to bring carsales’ knowledge and passion for the automotive category to life in ways that Australians can relate to and enjoy. The campaign is part of carsales’ ongoing commitment to innovation and driving better business outcomes for our partner dealers, automakers and advertisers.
The new campaign will help to shift the reputation of Australia’s most trusted place to buy and sell, to being the go-to resource for ‘everything’ cars. And this shift is an important one, with evolving consumer expectations post-COVID-19 and a wave of technological change set to impact the Australian automotive industry in the near-term. The first phase of this campaign launched nationally during the Men’s Singles Final of the Australian Open and will continue to be highly visible across key media channels.
There’s much more to come, so watch this space.
Shift to Electric Vehicles acclerates
The electric vehicle revolution is gaining pace with major markets such as China, USA and UK introducing the legislation, incentives and investment required to accelerate uptake in the wake of COVID-19.
OEMs are also pivoting, investing accordingly in EVs to align with government intervention and private sector investment. Notable announcements include the transformation of Jaguar into a 100 per cent EV brand by 2025, an all-EV model range from Ford Europe by 2030, and a commitment from General Motors to make all of its passenger cars electricallypowered by 2035.
How fast the shift to EVs takes place domestically, is still up for debate. Total sales increased 16% YoY in 2020 against an overall market decline of 13.7%, according to VFACTS. And while there continues to be a distinct lack of affordable brand new EVs in the Australian marketplace, carsales consumers are increasingly interested and weighing up the
purchase of an EV for their next car.
