How keen are Australians on buying a new car?
Appetite increases for Toyota vehicles and SUVs.
The number of Australians intending to buy a new car in the next year has fallen since the beginning of the year, although the industry still anticipates a record number of new vehicle sales during 2016.
New automotive data released by Roy Morgan Research found purchasing intentions among Australians over the next 12 months fell 4.57% year-on-year to 563,000 in the quarter to October 2016.
Record sales are still forecast for 2016, with intentions up 2.4% year to date, despite the quarterly decline.
These new figures have also led to an easing in four-year purchasing intentions. There are now 2,264,000 new car buyers in the market, representing a mildly positive year-on-year gain.
Car manufacturer Toyota remained most-preferred new vehicle brand, with 117,000 potential buyers.
However, this is notably less (-15.2%) than the 138,000 consumers who planned to buy in October 2015.
After suffering slightly softer sales this year, Honda has witnessed the greatest increase in buying intentions over the 12 months, up 32.2% from 31,000 in October 2015 to 41,000 in October 2016.
Australia's love affair with SUVs looks set to continue into 2017, with 225,000 Aussies intending to purchase a sports utility vehicle in the next year.
Sales of SUVs had been falling rapidly since the beginning of the year but the decline was reversed in August and as the weather began to warm up, sales continued to rise through September and October.
The same can't be said about passenger vehicles, with declining intentions throughout much of 2016, now below that of SUVs at just 218,000 people.
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