$15.00 Party, page-6

The March 2021 VFACTS report was issued a week ago, showing that overall new car sales rose 22.4 per cent compared to March 2020 with 100005 vehicles sold.

The continuing rise in APE's price may partly be related to how the March 2021 Queensland sales figure was up 32.7 per cent, as APE is particularly strong in the Sunshine State. The FCAI as peak industry body expressed some optimism that delivery delays from overseas (by ship of course) would continue to be (gradually?) resolved during the next few months.

Easter varies in date each year but perhaps 'Mr Market's savviest are hearing that new car sales are similarly strong in the first half of April.

Economic indicators are much better than we'd have thought possible six months ago, so that may well add to the sense of buoyancy. The previous couple of years though had seen what insiders said was poor sales (not just at APE), so a cynical view might be that a rise doesn't deliver as much positivity as would a further increase from 'good sales levels'.

Maybe there's a slowly growing realisation among ASX devotees that APE is in a market leading position for new car sales, albeit only a 10 per cent share in what may be a still fragmented new car dealership market with many families who've been involved for years.