Every so often an issue of AutoTalk assembles itself around a single theme without anyone planning it. This is one of those issues.
June was the strongest new vehicle sales month Australia has recorded.
That alone would be news. But look at what sat underneath the number.
Battery electric vehicles took almost a quarter of the market, up from 7.6% a year ago. China supplied more than a third of all vehicles sold. BYD sits second on the year-to-date brand table, with Chery, GWM and MG all inside the top ten.
Elsewhere in these pages, Inchcape and Stellantis are winding up Peugeot distribution. Manheim reports Chinese pricing competition dragging down the value of late- model stock at auction. And the AADA has assembled dealer leaders from the United States and Canada to talk about global disruption at this month’s convention in Sydney.
None of these stories is surprising on its own. Together they describe a market that has crossed a line.
Tony Weber calls it a shift on its axis, and for once the industry rhetoric undersells the reality.
For dealers, the questions are practical. What does a showroom look like when a quarter of buyers want a battery? What happens to used values when new car pricing keeps falling? Which franchises will still exist in five years, and which are quietly packing up?
Nobody has complete answers.
But the dealers who do best from here will be the ones asking those questions now, rather than waiting for the market to answer on their behalf.
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