Sales volume at Manheim Australia’s national wholesale auctions hit a near four-year monthly high during May this year, according to a report from the company, as fleets and other vendors show increased rates of asset turnover.
May sales across Manheim’s Australian sites grew 10.3% over April, and were up 40.6% year-on-year, representing the best monthly result since July 2020. Manheim says year-to-date wholesale volumes are also up 40.4% over the same January to May period last year, edging towards pre-COVID levels.
Greater supply in the new and used markets means transaction prices continue to return to earth, after spiking during COVID, the firm outlined.
The Manheim Wholesale Price Index sits at 136, denoting an average 36% price increase on wholesale vehicles of all types and ages since December 2019. This figure does not yet factor in inflation; however, Manheim says it will soon overlay the Price Index with CPI to better explain the real price changes over time.
The Index is down 8.4% year-on-year and down 18.9% since the wholesale market peak in May 2022. The message both to vendors and prospective auction buyers is that average purchase prices in the Manheim Australia wholesale marketplace have dropped by almost 20% across the past two years.
Manheim Australia said the May result was driven by factors including a healthy inflow of desirable government used vehicles (new government fleet sales were up more than 30% in May, according to VFACTS), onboarding several new dealer customers, and strong asset disposal volumes from fleet management organisations.
The firm also saw excellent results from its non-public OEM auctions, which sell ex-company vehicles to franchise dealers for their used and demonstrator inventory. Manheim works with many of Australia’s automotive OEMs as a used and demo auction partner.
Manheim attributed its strong performance to the diversity of procurement channels for vehicles sold all over Australia, through its physical and online auctions.
The top five most purchased vehicles at Manheim auctions in May were the Ford Ranger (up 17.7%), Toyota Camry (up 19%), Isuzu D-Max (down 9.5%), Toyota Corolla (even), and Holden Colorado (up 2.0%).
Inflated Price Indexes can also be observed on older vehicles, with traditional passenger vehicles such as hatchbacks and sedans holding onto inflated prices longer than SUVs and light commercial vehicles due to their relative scarcity.
Overall, passenger vehicles sold at Manheim auctions are 49.4% more expensive than pre-COVID, whereas SUVs are on average 24.5% more expensive and pickups 31.5% more expensive – including inflation. Passenger cars aged 8-10 years old, meanwhile, are 69.9% more expensive than they were pre-COVID.
Fleets or dealers turning over their Toyota Corollas, Toyota Camrys, Hyundai i30s and other similar models are poised to recoup a higher proportion of their initial purchase price, based on the Manheim findings.
