re:Lithium demand surge, page-1765

Funny, this article just on the web at THE AUSTRALIAN. I made reference to the Iphone comparison earlier today.

Car sales fall but auto industry awaits its ‘iPhone moment’


Bill Shorten charges an electric car at the launch of Labor's climate change action plan. Pic: Kym Smith

• By CHRIS JENKINS
• 12:32PM APRIL 3, 2019
• COMMENTS

While weathering a “perfect storm” that’s eating consumer confidence and slowing vehicle sales, the motor industry is looking forward to electric cars having their “iPhone moment”.
Figures released by industry body the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showed 99,442 new vehicles were sold in March, a drop of 7546, or 7.1 per cent, on the same period in 2018.
It was important that the industry was coming off a year of record sales in 2018, especially at the high end of the market, FCAI director of communications and emerging technologies Lenore Fletcher said.
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Nevertheless, a combination of factors was combining to cool buyer appetite, she said.
“You almost have a perfect storm right now,” she said, but added that the current fall in sales represented more of a “stabilisation rather than a cause for alarm”.
The drought, a downturn in the housing market, and recent state and looming federal elections were all combining to make buyers feel “a little less confident”, Ms Fletcher said.
The tightening of lending in the wake of the Hayne royal commission into the financial sector was also having an effect on both consumers and commercial buyers Ms Fletcher said. “Certainly, it’s had an impact.”
Ms Fletcher said the debate this week about electric vehicles, which emerged after federal Labor announced a plan to mandate that half of new cars sold would need to be electric by 2030, was at least bringing the technology available to the attention of consumers.
“Finally, we are getting some focus on the new technology,” she said.
But for electric vehicles to have an “iPhone moment” and prompt a wave of consumer upgrades, affordability issues would need to be resolved, she said. Electric vehicles also needed to offer range that was at least comparable to current internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. “It will come, but it will take time,” she said, saying that distances of 400-500km were required to put consumers more at ease.
Nevertheless, “range anxiety is easing,” she said.
In Australia, where consumers are particularly concerned with operating range due to the country’s vast distances, industry figures showed that 92 per cent of drivers travelled less than 90km per day, Ms Fletcher said.
On a year-to-date basis, March vehicle sales fell 7.9 per cent to 268,538 vehicles. Passenger vehicles experienced the biggest drop off, falling 17.8 per cent compared to the 12 months to March 2018, while sports utility vehicles (SUVs) fell 3.5 per cent.
Light commercial vehicles, which includes the three utes – Toyota’s Hilux, Ford’s Ranger and Mitsubishi’s Triton – which are the top selling vehicles in the overall market, fell just 0.4 per cent over the same period.
Overall vehicle sales in Victoria were hit particularly hard, falling 11.5 per cent compared to the same month in 2018.