Stay up to date with your industry
Ben Selwyn, on Fri, Nov 06,2020
November sees a number of changes to life in Australia, as Melbourne (and Victoria more broadly) returns to a greater semblance of normality. Anecdotal feedback suggests that we'll see that reflected in financial results over the next month, as Victorians take advantage of the opportunity to see friends, and relatives, visit cafes and restaurants, and generally enjoy an increased level of freedom.
Ben Selwyn, on Thu, Aug 06,2020
The latest updates to our Recovery Playbook are in line with the worsening results we see in our COVID-19 SME Sentiment Tracker, clearly demonstrating the impact the second wave of outbreaks is having on consumer and business confidence.
Ben Selwyn, on Fri, Jul 24,2020
The devastating impact of COVID-19 on the Australian economy is clearly evident (as called out in our COVID-19 SME Sentiment Tracker), particularly as a resurgence of the virus in Victoria sees the state reinstating strict lockdown measures. Looking to the future though, we are hopeful the latest outbreak will be controlled, allowing Australian businesses to shift their focus away from survival, and towards recovery.
Given the unprecedented nature of this pandemic, it is hard to fathom the current state of the economy. We have therefore compiled a list of metrics that can be used to evaluate and monitor the health of the economy. We are making this recovery playbook available as a public resource, and will be updating it on a regular basis (as new data becomes available).
At a high level, some of the early signs of recovery we saw have now retreated, with consumer and business confidence heading back down. Some specific themes are explored below.
Ben Selwyn, on Tue, Aug 06,2019
As we move into the second half of the year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is starting to release more detail from its 2019 Motor Vehicle Census, letting us dig into the Australian car parc at a national, and state level.
Ben Selwyn, on Fri, May 17,2019
With End Of Financial Year sales under way, many small business owners are considering bringing forward purchases to take advantage of instant asset write-offs. Given this increased level of activity, we thought now would be a good time to take a look at sales trends within the commercial van market.
Ben Selwyn, on Thu, Feb 14,2019
41,426 new trucks were sold in 2018, finally breaking a long-standing record, and setting the industry on its way to deliver to the growing Australian freight task. This result was largely driven by the Heavy Duty segment, with the 14,326 trucks sold making up a third of the total volume, and putting HD up 21% on 2017.
Ben Selwyn, on Mon, Jan 14,2019
The launch of Uber in 2012 was a disruptive shift in the Australian transport market, and signalled a serious threat to the traditional taxi. Since Uber’s entry, other ride hailing companies have followed suit, and there are now a wide range of options available to the Australian consumer (Ola, Shofer, Shebah and DiDi to name a few).
Ben Selwyn, on Tue, Jan 08,2019
Welcome to our first 2019 blog post, which I'm using to reflect back on the changing nature of the Australian car parc. As we well know, 2018 was the first full year since the closure of the final local new car manufacturing plant by Holden, but how is that reflected in the car sales data.
Ben Selwyn, on Wed, Dec 12,2018
As we move ever closer to an autonomous future, the safety of drivers, passengers, and other road users (in vehicles or pedestrians) is a key part of the conversation. The numerous ethical, moral and practical issues emerging through this debate are yet to be resolved, but fundamentally businesses will continue to need to ensure that their employees are safe while travelling for work.
Ben Selwyn, on Wed, Dec 05,2018
The release of the November 2018 VFACTS new vehicle sales data has all but confirmed what many industry commentators have been quietly predicting, with Heavy Commercial Vehicles sales on track to break the 40,000 vehicle barrier for the first time. The closest to this previously was 2007, where 38,131 sales were recorded, but sales fell off sharply by 2009, with the global financial crisis seeing the market drop to 28,654 units.
