Oz Survey Shows Car-Buying Intentions Still Strong

With Australian new-vehicle sales already running at a record pace, a new survey finds buying intentions continue climbing.

The August survey by Roy Morgan Research shows 2.46 million Australians intend to purchase a new vehicle within the next four years.

This is up 53,000 from July and is only marginally lower than the 15-year high recorded in February.

The survey is based on responses from more than 50,000 consumers.

Roy Morgan Research says short-term new-vehicle buying intentions also have increased, with the number of Australians intending to purchase in the next 12 months rising 9.2% over the last quarter to 679,000.

Norman Morris, research communications director-industry for Roy Morgan Research, says the major driver with this group is a much higher level of consumer confidence than the population average.

Over the August quarter, the consumer confidence level among all Australians was 113.1, while those preparing to hit the dealerships had a much higher confidence level at 125.2.

“Over the last three months, there has been considerable optimism in the new-car market as shown by the steady increase in buying intentions for the next four years and strong confidence among new-car buyers,” Morris says in a statement.

VFACTS, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ statistical service, reports vehicle sales posted their fourth consecutive monthly record in August and year-to-date sales were up 0.6% at 788,968 units.

“The increase in new-vehicle intentions over the last three months has been driven primarily from the continued market trend to SUVs, with an increase of 84,000, coming mainly from medium SUVs,” Morris says.