The state of the economy at the street level

[qldfrog]

Or are people who might previously have bought a new car now buying used instead?

Then market being supply demand, it would be interesting to see the price trend of used cars , and the various segments.
It is a very hard sector to analyse.
Are people buying non expensive ones et reducing amount spent?
Population growth?
Migrants buy extra second hand cars, and 18y old kids..or parents for kids..but otherwise,it is often one bough and one put for sale...
In overall numbers, migrants and population growth add demand, write off in accidents, blown engines and steal and burn reduce the supply.
And if you do not have access to dealers trade-in market/new car sold..hard to draw anything from these numbers imho

 

[mullokintyre]

I'm betting it's this mullok. A lot of cars are bought on finance/loans. Rates have shot up and so have living expenses so borrowing capacity is being pinched in both ways.

I bet if you dug into it you'd see that cars sales on credit/finance have plummeted and cash purchases haven't changed nearly as much.

And new cars are a superior good remember, they're something you buy when you're flush. When money's tight, you hold on to your old one

Remember the golden rule of analytics: The devil's in the details

Looking into the detail from the ABS, it does not look like people are financing less, at least in dollar terms with personal loans for personal loan vehicle financing.
So many new cars these days are bought on Novated leases.
The NALSpA put out a media release that there had been strong growth up until March 2024.

Strong growth in novated leases, particularly for electric cars, is helping boost the number of new car sales in Australia, according to National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association (NALSPA). New figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reveal total new car sales were up 20.9 per cent in February compared with the same period last year. Sales of BEV & PHEV combined made up 14.4 per cent of passenger and SUV vehicle sales (excluding light and heavy commercial vehicles), compared with 9.9 per cent in February 2023, reflecting growing interest in both pure battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Meanwhile, NALSPA members have recently reported strong ongoing growth in total novated lease sales. Importantly, electric vehicles are making up between 35 and 40 per cent of all new novated leases and more in some cases.

One can draw many conclusions from the above, all or none of which may be true.
Mick

 

[wayneL]

Business revenue is one thing but expenditure is another. It seems businesses are being squeezed on multiple levels and being choked to death.