Car News

Sales of US pick-ups in Australia continue to go from strength to strength, with the Ram 1500 and the Chevrolet Silverado posting their best results since being introduced locally. Ram Trucks Australia recorded its best monthly sales result since being established in Australia five years ago, with 604 vehicles reported as sold in June 2020, an increase of 130 per cent in a new-car market that was down by 6.4 per cent.

The new-car market has been competitive and cutthroat for a while, but the first half of 2020 increased the pressure to perform. With production delays due to coronavirus, a raft of exciting new models on the horizon, electric and hybrid cars upping their game and buyers facing financial limitations, every new vehicle on the market had to fight harder than ever to succeed.

Chinese car makers continue to defy the downward trend in Australia’s new-car market, with latest figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showing a 36 per cent increase in the first five months of this year versus the same period in 2019. That’s bucking the current trend where new car sales have taken a hammering thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting recession.

Anyone looking to buy a BMW on a budget could be in luck in a few months from now after the company registered hundreds of demonstrator models and company cars to help prop up its reported sales numbers in April. A glut of low-kilometre near-new used cars are expected to flood BMW dealers in the coming months after being cycled briefly through the company’s head office. It means that buyers will likely get a sharp deal on a low-kilometre demonstrator or ex-company car in the coming months.

UPDATE: This story, originally published May 5, has been updated with manufacturer comment. The car industry is preparing to lobby the Federal Government to introduce a “cash for clunkers” scheme to improve road safety and help the market recover from the longest sales slump since the Global Financial Crisis.