Car News

The Australian new vehicle market has seen better days. Sales this year are down 8.0 per cent, and we've seen 17 successive months of decline relative to the corresponding month in the preceding year. You can catch up on our August-specific market report here, and catch up previous months in our database here. But let’s look at four interesting things that have taken place over the year.

The Australian company responsible for the right-hand drive conversion and distribution of America’s Ram pickup trucks is demonstrating astonishing growth and battling to satisfy demand in a flat market. American Special Vehicles (ASV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sydney’s Ateco Group that contracts conversions to the Walkinshaw Group, has sold 1378 Ram trucks this year through its network of 47 dealer partners. That’s growth of more than 900 per cent.

BMW Australia is "quietly confident" its sales will grow during the second half of 2019, as its SUV range expands and consumer confidence returns after the federal election. The company's sales have been relatively stable throughout 2019, with deliveries down 4.0 per cent year-to-date at the end of June. That's despite an overall market slide of 8.4 per cent compared to 2018, and respective drops of 13.2 and 32.2 per cent for rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

Regardless of who wins the upcoming Federal election, new-car sales are expected to surge in the second half of this year – following the longest slump since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-2009. Official car sales figures show April, the 13th month in a row in negative territory, took the biggest hit with eight of the top 10 brands posting significant declines.

New vehicle sales failed to recover lost ground during March, falling 7.1% over the March 2018 tally, meaning 99,442 units. This data comes from VFACTS, a sales record compiled by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, based on sales figures submitted by each of the market's car brands. While not flawless, it's the best we have.