New-Car Interest Cooling Down in Australian Market

Australian new-car buyers are sending mixed signals, with long-term buying intentions softening and short-term interest rising.

Roy Morgan Research says its latest survey finds long-term car-buying intention down after hitting an all-time high in August. An estimated 2,369,000 Australians intend to buy a new car in the next four years, down 69,000 since the peak.

But the number of Aussies planning to buy a new car in the next 12 months has risen 3.2% to 641,000. That’s 20,000 above the long-term average since June 2002.

Roy Morgan Research Automotive, Group Account Director Jordan Pakes says sales in the first eight months of 2013 put the market on track to smash the 2012 record of 1,112,032 units. But sales in September and October were down from prior-year, reflecting declining short-term intention levels since March.

“The good news for the rest of the year and 2014 is that short-term buying intention showed signs of a potential rebound in October, although levels are still well below the March high,” Pakes says.

“Mazda has been the major beneficiary, with the survey finding almost 10% of short-term intenders in the October quarter put the make at the top of their shopping list.”

By model, nearly half of all Mazda intenders are interested in a Mazda3 and, with the new version launching in early 2014, buying-intention levels for the brand are expected to rise even further, Pakes says.

Roy Morgan Research says Mazda intenders are more likely than the average Aussie new-car buyer to be part of the community of moderately affluent outer-suburban young families.