Buyers to surge back into car showrooms

Australian car buyers are expected to surge back into dealerships to purchase a new vehicle in 2021 as the recovery from COVID-19 continues in both health and economic terms.

Total industry sales last year dropped to their lowest point since 2003, falling 13.7 per cent to 916,968 units – more than 145,000 fewer cars than the previous year and below one million units for the first time since 2009, when Australia was battling the global financial crisis.

However, the final quarter of the year produced an unexpectedly strong rebound with an 8.2 per increase in sales over the corresponding pre-pandemic period in 2019, plus the first monthly growth recorded for more than two-and-a-half years.

The peak body representing car-makers in Australia, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), now anticipates the trend will continue into 2021 and return the market back over one million annual sales.

“All the indications are very strong,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber.

“If you look at the last three months of the year, October was down 1.5 per cent and then we’ve had growth in the last two months of 12.4 and 13.5 per cent [November and December respectively].

“So what was a terrible year in many ways is coming off of that, the trend is looking good, we think there’s great hope, obviously, for a vaccine – get COVID under control, address the health issues, the economy will turn around. The fundamentals are good.

“What the government has done at the federal level, and what the state and territories have done, I think has been excellent in terms of the economic support and also the way they’ve handled the pandemic.

“So we’re optimistic that it will bounce back, the [new vehicle] market, as the economy will. We’ll certainly be north of where we are now and most probably over a million again, where it should be.”

Weber cited market intelligence which predicts a strong economic rebound in Australia and overseas over the next two years, including GDP growth of 1.6 per cent in 2021 and 2.5 per cent in 2022.

The vehicles driving sales growth are SUVs and light commercial vehicles (LCVs), with half of all new vehicles sold in Australia now SUVs and more than 20 per cent now LCVs, mostly utes.

The top-selling SUV last year was the Toyota RAV4 with more than 38,500 shifted, while the Toyota HiLux ute was not only the best-selling LCV with 45,176 driving out of showrooms but the most popular vehicle in Australia bar none for the fifth year in a row.

The Ford Ranger was the number one 4x4 ute and the second-most popular vehicle in the market overall with 40,973 sales.

“With more Australians holidaying at home, we expect the popularity of SUVs and LCVs to continue,” Weber said.

“2021 has a raft of new products scheduled for release, the cutting-edge vehicles bringing the latest technologies to Australia, and the competition in the market has never been more fierce.

“It’s an exciting time for brands, for their staff, for dealers, and the number-one priority, our customers.

“We look forward to Australia returning to better times.”

For full details on the models coming your way this year, click here for carsales’ comprehensive new car calendar.