Consumer confidence rises

It's very early to be making the call, but a general upswing in consumer confidence is starting to bring some lookers back to the business.

How that will be reflected in sales ... no-one really knows.

New-car sales tanked badly in April but Toyota Australia is already predicting an upswing and its optimism is also reflected in a new survey of consumer confidence, as well as booming prices for quality secondhand cars.

Toyota believes buyers will be drawn back by good deals, the government's investment allowance, a rush of new products, and the realisation that the recession will probably not cost most people their jobs.

By the end of the year Dave Buttner, the sales and marketing chief who forecast the revival, will either be a prophet and a hero ... or not.

Most other brands believe sales will bump along the bottom for a while yet, as people wait to see everything from the full impact of the Federal budget to the way prices settle to reflect the weaker Australian dollar.