Adrian Givoye, General Manager at RedBook Australia, a unit of carsales.com.au, talked with Fleet News Group’s podcast host Caroline Falls about residual values. Givoye stepped into the podcast studio at the Australasian Fleet Managers Association fleet conference after giving one of the most interesting talks, covering the subject every fleet manager cares about.
Rising new vehicle prices are leading used car prices higher, putting fleets with end of lease vehicle in a happy place.
“We’ve seen average prices across a basket of the top selling vehicles across segments, rise upwards of 11 percent in the last three to four years,” said Givoye, adding, “And that has a direct impact on the used vehicle market, as the relativity that we see between new vehicles and used vehicles has to maintain.”
RedBook, which was founded in Australia in the 1940s, specialises in providing data on cars, bikes, boats and vans and in analysing the used vehicle market. It operates in nine countries including New Zealand, Malaysia, China and Thailand.
Talking about circular economy and how it is influencing the automotive sector, Givoye, who has more than 20 years experience working in the OEM space, said there’s a shift in the market model with OEMs taking a more active role in the ownership of the whole experience, including in the used vehicle trade.
“They will be bringing those vehicles back into a controlled franchised environment that allows the vehicle standards, the customer experience, and ultimately, the prices to be upheld to what the OEM would like it to be,” said Givoye.
Givoye also talked about expectations and forecasts for used electric vehicles.
“That is the $64,000 question: What are EVs worth in three or four years time,” said Givoye. “Right now there really isn’t an established and effective market place for used [electric] vehicles. We have one brand represented predominantly in that space.”
He said until a greater variety of electric vehicles become available — for example SUVs, people movers, and dual cab utes it’s hard to predict future prices.
“Once those type of vehicles come more readily available, I think we’ll start to see the used market become a little bit more effective for EVs. And we can then more confidently project what their value might be in three or four years time.”
He said the entry of non-traditional brands, including so many new brands from China in the electric vehicle market place appears to be a positive, particularly from an affordability point of view.
“Time will tell as to how these vehicles will hold up. But again, early signs are that it’s only a positive at this stage.”
