Roy Morgan Research
November 08, 2019

Toyota the most popular brand among those with sights set on a new car

Topic: Press Release
Finding No: 8187
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New data from Roy Morgan’s Automotive Leading Indicators Report shows that Toyota is the most popular vehicle brand among Australians who intend to purchase a new car within the next four years.

As of September 2019, the percentage of Australian ‘new vehicle intenders’ planning on purchasing a Toyota was 16.8% (322,000), followed by Mazda on 8.7% (168,000), Hyundai 7.6% (145,000), Volkswagen 6% (115,000), Mercedes-Benz 3.8% (72,000), Holden 3.6% (69,000), Nissan 3.4% (64,000), Ford and Subaru both 3.3% (63,000), Honda 3.1% (60,000), Audi 2.7% (52,000), BMW 2.5% (48,000), Mitsubishi 2.4% (46,000) and Lexus 1.2% (24,000).

These findings have been obtained from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week and around 50,000 each year.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that while feedback to businesses regarding favoured products and services is important, it is far more relevant when it comes from consumers who are soon to be in the market for those particular goods.

“Roy Morgan’s new vehicle buying intention data is a powerful indicator and feedback tool for car manufacturers. Not only does it provide positive feedback on current business strategy and advertising campaigns, but it also allows manufacturers to anticipate future sales trends.

“Toyota should be very pleased by this latest data, which shows that for a considerable proportion of Australians soon to be on the hunt for a new set of wheels, it is at the top of their list and well ahead of the competition,” says Ms. Levine.

New vehicle buying intentions by brand

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, July 2019 – September 2019, n=1,144. Base: Australians aged 14+ who intend on buying a new vehicle in the next four years. 

Looking at the types, rather than makes, of vehicles Australian intenders are set on buying, SUVs are the most popular, with 40% (768,000) of intenders planning on a Sports Utility Vehicle as their next purchase. This is followed by Passenger Vehicles on 35.1% (674,000) and Commercial Vehicles on 8.1% (155,000).

“We’ve all seen the growth in popularity of SUV’s on the roads around us, but what this data tells us is that we can expect SUV numbers to continue to increase. The rise in SUVs has come at the expense of the standard passenger vehicle,” says Ms. Levine.

New vehicle buying intentions by segment

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, August 2017 – September 2019, n=10,899. An average of 1,264 for each rolling quarter. Base: Australians aged 14+ who intend on buying a new vehicle in the next four years.

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Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size Percentage Estimate
40% – 60% 25% or 75% 10% or 90% 5% or 95%
1,000 ±3.0 ±2.7 ±1.9 ±1.3
5,000 ±1.4 ±1.2 ±0.8 ±0.6
7,500 ±1.1 ±1.0 ±0.7 ±0.5
10,000 ±1.0 ±0.9 ±0.6 ±0.4
20,000 ±0.7 ±0.6 ±0.4 ±0.3
50,000 ±0.4 ±0.4 ±0.3 ±0.2

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