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Why you can forget EOFY car sales: Huge May will see most June bargains vanish

May was the biggest new-car sale month in a bumper 2021.

May has proven the biggest sales month so far in 2021, as new-car sales - led by the Toyota HiLux, RAV4, LandCruiser and the Ford Ranger - continue to soar, spelling the end of most EOFY deals in Australia.

A total 100,809 new vehicles found homes across Australia in May, putting the country's new-car market on track to clear one million deliveries in 2021.

The result is a total turnaround from last year's Covid-impacted sales results. In May 2020, just 59,894 were sold across Australia - meaning sales are up some 68.3 per cent.

But last year was an anomaly, so perhaps more important is that sales are up even on May 2019 numbers, when 92,561 cars found homes.

With sales booming, and stock levels still incredibly tight, the results pretty much spell the end for traditional EOFY sales in 2021, with most brands facing several-month delays on popular products, as opposed to having dealer lots full of cars to shift.

"Demand is outstripping supply," one car company told CarsGuide, suggesting that any kind traditional EOFY bargains will be hard to come by.

Hard, but not impossible: Mazda, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan and Ford have committed to discounts, defying shortages.

Used car prices in Australia - and around the world - have been increasing, too. According to data from Moody’s Analytics, used-vehicles prices in Q1 2021 were 37 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic high set in February 2020, and those numbers have only continued to climb.

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold. But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul. And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard. When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House. But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others. More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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