Flat car sales beat expectations

Advertisement

By Leith van Onselen

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has just released new motor vehicle sales data for the month of February:

On a seasonally adjusted basis, new motor vehicle sales were flat in the month to be 1.7% higher over the year. The result beat analysts’ expectations, who had tipped that new car sales would fall -2.5% in the month.

Advertisement

The sale of both passenger motor vehicles (-0.9% MoM; -2.3% YoY) and special utility vehicles (-1.9% MoM; +18.7% YoY) fell in the month of February, whereas , the sale of Other vehicles rose (+5.9% MoM; -6.1% YoY).

Turning to the time series which, due to volatility in the data have been prepared on a 3-month moving average basis (3MMA), you can see that total motor vehicle sales have well and truly recovered from their GFC lows, but also remain below their pre-GFC high:

Advertisement

Note also Australia’s changing preference for special utility vehicles, which have been gradually trended upwards as sales of passenger motor vehicles have been trending down.

At the mainland state level, the southern states all experienced increases in sales in February, whereas the other sates and territories were either flat or experienced falls.

Advertisement

Overall, it’s a bit of a nothing result with few implications for interest rates.

[email protected]

www.twitter.com/Leithvo

About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.