Spare parts: Canberra dealers buck the trend, Danny Ricciardo, and a pricey Beetle
Dealers in Canberra are reporting modest but encouraging levels of showroom traffic. Picture: Shutterstock
The ACT has continued to be the only state or territory in the country bucking the national plunge in new car sales.
August sales data shows the ACT is the only jurisdiction staying in the black, while elsewhere around the country it’s a sea of red.
National car sales are running 20 per cent down on the same eight-monthly year-to-date period last year, and Victoria, with much of metro Melbourne still in heavy stage four COVID lockdown, is suffering a 66 per cent fall in sales year to date. The dealers in Victoria are screaming for help although to date, there’s been little government response. The federal industry body wants the industry to reopen “under appropriate COVID-safe protocols”, but offers no workable example of what that might look like.
Dealers in Canberra are reporting modest but encouraging levels of showroom traffic and there’s still a trickle of stock back-orders coming through from the late January hailstorm, which damaged thousands of cars and provided an artificial stimulus to the local automotive economy.
During August, the Toyota RAV4 was the highest selling car in Australia for the second month in a row, with the impressive hybrid version outselling every other car on the market.
Customer waiting times on hybrid RAV4 deliveries are now stretching into six months or more which shows that even in a depressed market, good products always sell well.
Toyota goes premium on Yaris mini-car
Toyota’s entry-level passenger car is now Euro-priced, with the most expensive Yaris range sold in Australia now starting to arrive here.
Prices for the all-new Yaris start at $22,130 for the Ascent Sport manual, but the coveted new hybrid version starts at a Corolla-sized $29,020. All prices are plus on-road costs. This car shares nothing with its predecessor, and uses an all-new, highly rigid platform, plus new engines and drivetrains.
Toyota has fully loaded it with safety features and claims it as the world’s safest compact car. Standard safety kit includes front-centre airbags, sensors that can detect vehicles or pedestrians at intersections when making turns, and a secondary collision brake…
This article is from the Canberra Times, you can read the full article here: