A surprising trend is emerging from within the Australian car market. Highlighting a real change in direction for consumer taste.
The Australian car market is diverse. There are luxurious European cars, vehicles made on home soil, and trucks imported from the United States. This all combines together to ensure that Australians are afforded the luxury of picking the car that best suits their needs.
Recently, it appears that Australians are moving towards more practical cars, with sales of US pick-ups going from strength to strength. In particular, the Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado have enjoyed strong sales, perhaps signaling a change in car-buying habits.
Ram Trucks
Since being established in Australia in 2015, Ram Trucks Australia is currently enjoying its best monthly sales. In June 2020 alone, 604 vehicles were sold. Making for an increase of 130 percent in a new-car market that was previously down by 6.4%.
Ram Trucks Australia is proving popular amongst Australians that many dealers actually ran out of stock towards the end of the month. While cars arrive in the country every month from the US, demand is far outweighing supply.
With Ram Trucks Australia enjoying unprecedented popularity, the local market could soon see an extended range from Ram as dealers look to secure any vehicle that will convert here.
This is good news for the growing number of people who are purchasing or are interested in buying US pick-ups. Thanks to demand, a vast range of Ram branded vehicles are becoming available, such as the new generation ‘DT’ series Ram 1500.
The ‘DT’ is currently undergoing development work in the form of crash testing as well as being remanufactured as right-hand-drive. However, it will be rolled out in early 2021 alongside the current ‘DS’ series Ram 1500 Classic.
Expanding the range and keeping up supply has forced the local Ram assembly line into 24 hours, 5 days a week production. However, with coronavirus gripping the nation and forcing the US factory to close, there could soon be a shortage of these popular pick-ups.
Chevrolet
Another company benefiting from the US pick-up trend in Australia is Chevrolet. In fact, the Chevrolet Silverado had its best month since the nameplate began being imported by Holden Special Vehicles, over five years ago.
The nameplate is being imported, remanufactured, and distributed by Holden Special Vehicles to the tune of 237 cars reported as sold, a number that is more than double that of the same month last year.
Thanks to monster sale increases, Holden Special Vehicles is working overtime to source additional vehicles in order to meet the demand. So unprecedented is the demand that these figures were the best monthly result for Holden Special Vehicles since December 2008.
Like Ram, Chevrolet is also affected by factory shutdowns. With current low-interest rates, these companies could miss out on the business of 30% of people who look to finance their new car purchases.
Compliance in Australia
There are two possible reasons as to why overseas cars are dominating the Australian car market at the moment. One being that car trends are changing and another revolving around US vehicles being manufactured to comply with Australian road rules.
Both the Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500 are remanufactured in right-hand-drive to factory standards, coming with full factory warranty and support, full volume compliance for Australia.
These overseas vehicles have also been crash-tested locally to validate the engineering changes. Eliminating any concerns locals may have over the safety and standard of overseas cars in Australia.
The Australian car market
Changing car market trends has resulted in a surge of popularity for US pick-ups within Australia. Individuals are becoming increasingly drawn to cars from Ram Trucks Australia and the Chevrolet Silverado.
With both companies experiencing record sales months within Australia, it seems that locals are looking to more practical and versatile cars from overseas. Revealing a huge market opportunity for more overseas dealers to sell their vehicles in Australia.
