"This is potentially quite a large sideswipe on their profits."
Petrol prices hit car sales
May 23, 2006
By John Garnaut and Jordan Baker
The Sydney Morning Herald
Copyright 2006
Record petrol prices are forcing Sydney motorists to drive less, buy fewer cars and switch away from four-wheel-drive vehicles.
New figures also show traffic volumes appear to have fallen, raising questions about the profitability of privately owned motorways.
Fewer 4WDs were sold in NSW last month than in any month for three years, while car sales continued a slide that began early last year.
Traffic fell on the Eastern Distributor, M4 and M5 toll roads in the year to April, says Macquarie Infrastructure Group's monthly report to the stock exchange, the first annual decline since 2001.
"Houston, we have a problem," said the director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, Professor Stuart White.
"This is potentially quite a large sideswipe on their profits."
High petrol prices have caused a public backlash. A Herald/ACNielsen poll yesterday showed 45 per cent of voters would have preferred the Federal Government to cut petrol excise than income tax in the budget.
But today the NRMA will tell the Government to ignore the pressure and spend the money on roads instead. Australia's 38 cents a litre excise is less than half the average 84 cents in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the fourth lowest among the 30 OECD countries. The president of NRMA Motoring and Services, Alan Evans, said he would tell the federal Minister fo Transport, Warren Truss, that trimming the price of petrol would do little to help motorists. He will ask the Government to direct 50 per cent of the excise to roads.
"Motorists want that money spent on roads and alternative fuels, making us less dependent on overseas oil supplies," Mr Evans said.
Bureau of Statistics figures show NSW 4WD sales have slipped 21 per cent since February last year and car sales peaked early last year but have since dropped to the levels of two years ago. National 4WD sales slipped for four consecutive months for the first time since records began in 1994.
"Drivers have clearly altered their behaviour, especially in NSW," said Craig James, an economist at CommSec. His counterpart at ABN Amro, Kieran Davies, said motorists were holding their petrol budget constant despite higher prices - thus consuming less. A taxi driver, Bashi Barry, said: "In 10 years of driving cabs I've never seen traffic this quiet outside of holiday times."
The chief executive of advertising agency BMF, Matthew Melhuish, said car makers "could go back to pushing the good old fashioned station wagon".
Macquarie Infrastructure Group, which has stakes in the Eastern Distributor, M4, M5 and M7, played down the impact of higher petrol prices and sluggish traffic volumes on its bottom line. It said last month's results were skewed by the timing of Easter.
The toll price for the unpopular Cross City Tunnel was halved for three months from early March to lure more traffic. The Premier, Morris Iemma, yesterday said that he hoped the half-price period would continue until the final toll was set.
A Lane Cove Tunnel spokesman said he was sure it would prove popular when it opened late this year or early next year. The opening toll would be capped at $2.60 for the tunnel or $1.30 for the Falcon Street ramps.
Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald: www.smh.com.au
May 23, 2006
By John Garnaut and Jordan Baker
The Sydney Morning Herald
Copyright 2006
Record petrol prices are forcing Sydney motorists to drive less, buy fewer cars and switch away from four-wheel-drive vehicles.
New figures also show traffic volumes appear to have fallen, raising questions about the profitability of privately owned motorways.
Fewer 4WDs were sold in NSW last month than in any month for three years, while car sales continued a slide that began early last year.
Traffic fell on the Eastern Distributor, M4 and M5 toll roads in the year to April, says Macquarie Infrastructure Group's monthly report to the stock exchange, the first annual decline since 2001.
"Houston, we have a problem," said the director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, Professor Stuart White.
"This is potentially quite a large sideswipe on their profits."
High petrol prices have caused a public backlash. A Herald/ACNielsen poll yesterday showed 45 per cent of voters would have preferred the Federal Government to cut petrol excise than income tax in the budget.
But today the NRMA will tell the Government to ignore the pressure and spend the money on roads instead. Australia's 38 cents a litre excise is less than half the average 84 cents in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the fourth lowest among the 30 OECD countries. The president of NRMA Motoring and Services, Alan Evans, said he would tell the federal Minister fo Transport, Warren Truss, that trimming the price of petrol would do little to help motorists. He will ask the Government to direct 50 per cent of the excise to roads.
"Motorists want that money spent on roads and alternative fuels, making us less dependent on overseas oil supplies," Mr Evans said.
Bureau of Statistics figures show NSW 4WD sales have slipped 21 per cent since February last year and car sales peaked early last year but have since dropped to the levels of two years ago. National 4WD sales slipped for four consecutive months for the first time since records began in 1994.
"Drivers have clearly altered their behaviour, especially in NSW," said Craig James, an economist at CommSec. His counterpart at ABN Amro, Kieran Davies, said motorists were holding their petrol budget constant despite higher prices - thus consuming less. A taxi driver, Bashi Barry, said: "In 10 years of driving cabs I've never seen traffic this quiet outside of holiday times."
The chief executive of advertising agency BMF, Matthew Melhuish, said car makers "could go back to pushing the good old fashioned station wagon".
Macquarie Infrastructure Group, which has stakes in the Eastern Distributor, M4, M5 and M7, played down the impact of higher petrol prices and sluggish traffic volumes on its bottom line. It said last month's results were skewed by the timing of Easter.
The toll price for the unpopular Cross City Tunnel was halved for three months from early March to lure more traffic. The Premier, Morris Iemma, yesterday said that he hoped the half-price period would continue until the final toll was set.
A Lane Cove Tunnel spokesman said he was sure it would prove popular when it opened late this year or early next year. The opening toll would be capped at $2.60 for the tunnel or $1.30 for the Falcon Street ramps.
Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Tuesday, May 23, 2006
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