Cairns car sales bounce back after horror first quarter
The Cairns automotive industry has bounced back in June from a first quarter sales slump but post-COVID economic uncertainty has local dealers concerned.
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THE Cairns’ automotive industry bounced back in June from a first quarter sales slump but post-COVID economic uncertainty has local dealers wary.
Of the major Cairns dealers Pacific Toyota appears to be one of the quickest to emerge from the pandemic-induced downturn.
The group recorded a 50 per cent increase in June new car sales, which dealer principal Leon Richardson said was a new record for the Mulgrave Rd dealership.
“We had a huge spike in new car demand and deliveries in June, which was really good,” he said.
“A lot of it got put down to the instant tax write off, so that has been a huge help to the industry.”
Mr Richardson said the dealership battled a sales cliff in late March after selling well in the lead up to the lockdown but fielded increased inquiries leading up to the June sales explosion.
“(March) was a very nervous time for the dealership. I have got 160 staff so was planning various scenarios if we had to shut the doors,” he said.
Encouraged by recent figures, Mr Richardson was optimistic about the industry’s future but said it was too early to call the crisis over.
“We are going to come down from that (June) peak … and we are watching Victoria with interest, if something like that was to happen in Queensland we could revert back to the darker days of April,” he said.
At the height of the COVID lockdown in March and April the Ireland Group dealership reported “terrible” sales figures on new vehicles in what was already a soft sales market.
Ireland Holden dealer-principal Richard Ireland said the dealership now had staff back working full time after reducing hours during the height of the pandemic but June figures compared with 2019 remained poor.
“March and April were terrible, May improved a little, June improved a lot compared with March and April but it was still nowhere near a normal June,” he said.
“But it’s not as quiet as we expected it to be.”
Compounding below-average new car sales was an open ended pandemic timeline, Mr Ireland said.
“Every week is what you see is what you get, all we can do is plan to be successful and then work on it,” he said.
Similar to other groups, dealer principal of Audi Centre Cairns, Alen Ren, said March and April sales had been very poor.
“(But) it has bounded back quite strongly in June,” he said.
The group has made record unit sales in June, fuelled by manufacturer specials, but new car profit margins remained tight, Mr Ren said.
Originally published as Cairns car sales bounce back after horror first quarter
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