The ups and downs of June new car prices

SEVENTEEN car brands have new entrants to the market or price movements on various models in June according to monitoring company RJ Pound Pricing Services, with the overriding trend unsurprisingly upwards.

A handful of manufacturers with many new models have repositioned others to accommodate newcomers, leading to some cost reductions, while others with orders in hand for in-demand cars have adjusted prices accordingly.

The arrival of new tech is also causing some upward pressure on what customers are asked to pay for a new vehicle..

More electrified cars are filtering in but they are not what could be termed affordable, based on the latest listings.

Looking at the overall picture, alphabetically we find Audi has announced the high-performance five-cylinder turbo RS Q3 Sportback 10 Years Edition with 294kW and 480Nm pitched from $102,900 plus on-road costs.

French brand Citroen continues its rollout of new and upgraded models, the upgraded C5 AirCross SUV arriving with a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine and new transmission priced from $54,990 + ORC – a hike of $2600 on the previous offering.

In an effort to keep sales on the boil, Spanish flier Cupra – part of the VW Group – has launched a limited-edition Formentor VZx Matrix Edition with LED headlights and body highlights at $65,490 + ORC, a $1500 premium over the VZx AWD on which it’s based.

Korean premium brand Genesis also applied an uptick for three models in June: the Electrified G80 went up $2K with a 2023 upgrade, the all-electric luxury executive sedan going up to $147,000 + ORC.

The two small electric GV60 SUVs underwent semi-significant upgrades after only a year on the market, receiving Genesis Connected Services among other changes that attracted a price rise of $4000 apiece, meaning the GV60 Lux is now from $107,700 and the GV60 performance from $114,700, both + ORC.

Chinese mover, GWM Haval’s new H6 Luxury hybrid five-door medium SUV, with 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine supported by an integrated electric motor is $42,490 drive-away (all GWM vehicles: Ora, Tank, Jolion, H6 and Cannon have national drive-away pricing).

More cars are starting to filter through from Honda; the latest new addition being the ZR-V small SUV range arriving with three petrol variants and one hybrid: VTi X, VTi L, VTi LX petrol and e:HEV LX all drive-away priced at $40,200, $43,200, $48,500 and $54,900 respectively.

Four-wheel drive start-up Ineos has announced pricing for its first shipment of Grenadier Utility Wagons as follows: Utility Wagon two seater from $97,000, Station Wagon five seat $98,000, Trailmaster Utility Wagon two seat from $108,525, Trailmaster Station Wagon five seat from $109,525, Fieldmaster Utility Wagon two seat $107,400 and Fieldmaster Station Wagon five seat $109,525 (all + ORC).

Legendary four-wheel drive company Land Rover got in on the action too, adding 11 new Defender models with small price changes – both up and down – to some of the existing range.

The new models with petrol, diesel and hybrid powertrains include: 90, 110 and 130 body lengths starting with the 110 P300S at $92,800 and rising to the 130 P500 V8 at $237,900 (both + ORC).

Enjoying a purple patch in sales terms with a record May result, Lexus has just launched the new fully electric RZ450e in Luxury and Sports Luxury variants, both with all-wheel drive. 

The Luxury starts from $123,000 + ORC, with the Sports Luxury adding $12K to the bottom line. Lexus has also implemented a tech upgrade to the NX450h plug-in hybrid that sees the price rise by a modest $500, to $91,423 + ORC.

Indian manufacturer Mahindra has issued pricing for the new Scorpio diesel five-door 4x4 from $44,990 drive away, while at the other end of the spectrum, McLaren’s wicked-fast new 750S coupe and its Spider convertible derivative arrive at $585,500 and $654,600 respectively – before on-roads and options.

There is little passenger car price movement from Mercedes-Benz in June but the Vito tourer diesel people mover, Vito van range and Sprinter van range all spiked this month, with the smaller vans jumping by between $5000 and 6000 while larger vans go up by a bit more than that.

MG Motor announced pricing for its forthcoming three-model MG4 electric hatch pitched at $44,990, $47,990 and $55,990 for the Excite, Essence standard range and Essence long range models, all before ORC.

Nissan announced a new X-Trail variant, the ST-L e-Power hybrid five-seat AWD from $49,490 + ORC, in doing so bringing the entry point down for ePower models by $4500.

Orders for the gorgeous new drop-top Porsche 718 Spyder RS variant also opened during this pricing cycle, at $336,800 + ORC.

Tesla’s fluctuating prices continue this month with RWD and Long Range Model 3s snicking up $400 apiece to $61,300 and $74,300 respectively, while the Model 3 Performance dropped by $1280 to $88,555 (all excluding ORC). Balancing that, the Tesla Model Y Performance AWD jumped by $960 to $98,855 + ORC.

Finally for June 2023, Volkswagen Australia has been able to get its hands on the much-anticipated Golf R 20 Years anniversary model that will set buyers back $74,990 + ORC. The German manufacturer also announced a cheaper version of the T-Roc small SUV called the CityLife at $35,990 + ORC.