Atlas / Sector
Sector profile
Automotive marketing benchmarks
Strongest on Data & Tracking, with the most room to move in Retention & Loyalty. Automotive sits below the national average across 2 industries.
Building evidence · based on 13 businesses, growing
Sector signature
Bars are this sector. Ticks are the national average.
Sector strength
Data & Tracking
+5 against the national line. The dimension this sector leans on.
Biggest gap
Retention & Loyalty
-5 against the field. The soft spot holding the sector back.
The spread
9 points
Between the strongest and weakest industry in the sector. A wide gap means the average hides real winners.
The map
Where this sector sits
Every dot is an industry we measure. The 2 industries in Automotive are lit in red. Choose any two dimensions for the axes.
Acquisition Performance →
Automotive sits below average on Retention & Loyalty and above average on Acquisition Performance. The spread of red dots shows how tightly the sector clusters.
The spread inside the sector
Every number is a Marketing Score out of 100, rolling six dimensions into one figure. 47 is a business doing the basics. 84 is one that markets like a business twice its size.
The distance between the strongest and weakest performer in Automotive is wide. A small cluster is genuinely good. A long tail sits well behind. The bar to lead this sector is lower than the reputation suggests. So where would you land?
In national context
Where the sector lands on the map
Every industry we measure, sorted low to high. The marker shows where Automotive averages out.
In this sector
Every industry in Automotive, ranked
Sorted by Marketing Score. Open any one for the full profile.
The read
What the numbers say about Automotive
On the whole, Automotive is a below-average sector. It leans on data & tracking and trails on retention & loyalty.
Automotive ranks 7th of 11 sectors, 0.4 points below the national average, but that number hides a stark internal divide. The sector has only 2 industries and a 9.2-point gap separates them. Automotive Mechanics & Servicing scores 67.9. Automotive — New & Used Car Dealerships scores 58.7. One is adapting to digital. The other is still figuring out how.
Data & Tracking is the sector's quiet strength, +4.6 against the national average. This is driven largely by mechanics and service centres that have adopted workshop management software with built-in CRM, automated service reminders and review solicitation. Dealerships contribute less despite having larger teams and bigger budgets.
Retention & Loyalty is the sector's weakest point, -4.7 against the national average. For an industry where repeat purchases and service loyalty should be natural advantages, this is a missed opportunity. Dealerships in particular lose contact with buyers after the sale and fail to capitalise on service, finance renewal and trade-in cycles.
Automotive Mechanics & Servicing outscores Automotive — New & Used Car Dealerships by 9.2 points despite a fraction of the marketing budget. Smaller businesses with tighter customer relationships and automated service reminders are outperforming large dealer groups with national ad spend.
What to watch in Australian automotive
The EV transition is creating a new class of automotive retailer. Direct-to-consumer brands like BYD, Tesla and Polestar bypass the dealership model entirely. Traditional dealers who do not build their own digital acquisition and retention infrastructure risk being disintermediated.
Service and aftermarket is the growth play. As the average age of cars on Australian roads increases, the businesses that own the post-purchase relationship will capture more lifetime value than those focused solely on new vehicle sales.
Patterns
What the Automotive numbers reveal
Computed from 13 scored businesses across 2 industries. Updated as new audits complete.
How industries compare
Digital Maturity (65.7) is the sector's edge. Retention & Loyalty (57.7) is the drag.
A 8-point spread between the strongest and weakest dimensions. Retention & Loyalty sits 4.7 points below national average.
What's shifting
0.4 points below the national average of 63.7
Automotive ranks 7 of 11 sectors. Trails Technology (65.5) by 2.2 points. The gap is closeable. These are not structurally weak businesses. They are businesses that have not prioritised digital marketing.
Where they are
NSW dominates with 8 of 13 businesses
62% of scored businesses in this sector are headquartered in NSW, averaging 61.9. VIC (2), QLD (2), ACT (1) follow.
Evidence depth
13 businesses scored across 2 industries
Every score uses the same 6-dimension model with up to 150+ data points per business. 3 have multi-source verified data. Evidence depth ratings show the data behind each score.
By the numbers
2 Large businesses score 5+ points above sector average
Guzman y Gomez (GYG), Jim's Group prove that large companies can compete with larger peers. Average of 73.9 vs sector benchmark of 63.3.
How industries compare
Acquisition Performance: +2.5 vs national average
The sector scores 65.4 in acquisition performance, 2.5 points above the national average of 62.9. A genuine competitive advantage.
Frequently asked
Common questions about Automotive
How does the automotive sector compare to other Australian sectors for marketing?+
Automotive scores 63 out of 100, ranking 7 of 11 Australian sectors. This is 0 points below the national average of 64.
The sector's strongest dimension is Data & Tracking. Its weakest is Retention & Loyalty.
Based on 13 scored Australian businesses across 2 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
Which automotive companies have the strongest marketing in Australia?+
The top 5 performers across all automotive industries:
1. McDonald's Australia in Franchise Systems
2. Jim's Group in Franchise Systems
3. Guzman y Gomez (GYG) in Franchise Systems
4. Eagers Automotive (ASX: APE) (67) in Automotive — New & Used Car Dealerships
5. Peter Warren Automotive (ASX: PWR) in Automotive — New & Used Car Dealerships
McDonald's Australia leads, 21 points above the sector average.
Based on 13 scored Australian businesses across 2 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
What is the biggest marketing weakness in Australian automotive businesses?+
Retention & Loyalty is the weakest dimension, 5 points below the national average of 62.
This is the single biggest lever for improvement.
6-dimension scoring model: Digital Maturity, Acquisition Performance, Conversion Efficiency, Retention and Loyalty, Brand and Positioning, Data and Tracking.
How reliable are the marketing scores for automotive businesses?+
Scores are built from a 6-dimension model using up to 150+ data points per business: GA4 analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, site technology, Core Web Vitals and public data.
13 businesses are scored in this sector, benchmarked against 70+ nationally. Each score carries an evidence depth rating so you can see how much data sits behind it.
Evidence depth: Very High (4+ sources), High (3), Medium (2), Baseline (public signals).
Which automotive industries perform best at marketing?+
1. Automotive Mechanics & Servicing (67.88)
2. Automotive — New & Used Car Dealerships (58.676667)
The 9-point spread shows meaningful variation between industries in this sector.
Based on 13 scored Australian businesses across 2 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
How can automotive businesses improve their marketing score?+
Three high-impact moves:
1. Strengthen retention & loyalty., this is the sector's weakest dimension and the fastest path to a higher score. Even basic improvements move the needle 5 to 10 points.
2. Close the gap on data & tracking. The sector already scores 62 here. Businesses below that benchmark are leaving easy points on the table.
3. Study the leaders. McDonald's Australia and Jim's Group show what good looks like in this sector.
Based on 13 scored businesses across 2 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence.
Stop reading the average
The Atlas shows the sector. We read your business.
The map tells you what Automotive does on average. Get Our Take tells you what you do, where you leak and what to fix first.