Why Are Australians Buying More Luxury Cars Than Ever Before?

Reports show a rise in the sales of luxury cars in Australia with the Mercedes-Benz Australia selling over 4,000 of its performance AMG models in 2015.

According to Business Insider Australia, this is the highest per capita sales rate for any country in the world.  Talking in numbers, it is pegged around 13% of their 31,700 cars sold in Australia throughout the year, their website claims.  While the official VFACTS figures are not available right now, experts say that the AMG sales are pretty much close to those made by Peugot and Porche in the country.

So what is it that has made people clamor for the luxury alternative to the usual Holden, Subaru, Hyundai, Toyota, Honda and even Mazda?

“Luxury cars are more affordable than ever before, they’re at a price people can get to and, of course, with the end of vehicle manufacturing, you’ve removed the guilt of not buying Australian,” explains David Chalke from AustraliaScan, while speaking to News.com.au.

In fact, by September alone, the same website quoted FCAI reporting that Mercedes sold more than 6,500 luxury C-Class sedans, despite a starting price of $60,000 and even the BMW 3 Series sedan outsold a mainstream model.  Overall sales of Audi till September were up 17.5 per cent, BMW up by 13.9 per cent and Mercedes had a 20 per cent boost at a time when the total new-car market grew by just 3.2 per cent.

According to Business Insider Australia, the top selling Mercedes-AMG models were the CLA45 AMG and A45 AMG, both of which can be bought for less than $100k if you’re willing to leave out a few optional extras.  This lower entry point undoubtedly helped the sales figures surge.

SOURCE: Australia Network News (ANN)
POSTED: January 2016
AUTHOR: Nandini Chhatre