Here is a snippet from The Australian this morning, reporting on...

Here is a snippet from The Australian this morning, reporting on strong car sales in February. I wonder what this means for potential income gains for SIQ, especially the large subsidy initiative from the federal government to stimulate new car sales in the EV category.

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Best February for new car sales since 2019

Australia saw its best February new vehicle sales of 87,000 since February 2019, driven by strong demand from electric vehicles and pent up demand.

The sector continued to whether households facing rising interest rates and inflation pressures as growth was 2 per cent higher month-on-month. UBS analyst Tim Piper said it was however 4 per cent below the six-month average, likely the result of port congestion.

Electric vehicle sales were 6,386 or 7 per cent of sales, a 20 per cent rebound from January. Tesla remained dominant in the EV space accounting for 55 per cent of EV sales (down from 63 per cent prior month).

"Recent results for the listed car dealers were generally positive, order books continued to grow and this Jan/Feb'23 industry data suggests no significant increase in supply yet, though demand does look to be softening from strong," Mr Piper said.

Luxury vehicle sales, excluding Tesla, was down 20 per cent from February 2020, while WA was the strongest car market compared to SA being the weakest.