Land Rover bucks declining UK trend as sales rise 32%

LAND Rover bucked the trend of declining UK car registrations last month with sales up 32.25% on the same month last year.

The continuing success of its new Evoque model is thought the main reason for the boost.

During November, the Solihull-based group saw 3,162 of its vehicles registered in the UK as compared to 2,382 during the same month last year.

In contrast, its Jaguar stablemate saw another poor month. Sales declined by 33.3% compared with November 2010, with just 924 cars sold against the 1,386 12 months ago.

Even fierce rival BMW saw a dip, with its sales down 5.7% on November last year.
However, the BMW group as a whole was boosted by the continuing success of Mini, whose new coupe was launched recently.

The best-selling brand was up 41.5% last month, the best performing out of all the major car manufacturers.

The luxury sector had a mixed month with Aston Martin dipping 8.8% but Bentley was up 20.3%.

Ford held on to its number one spot with a 13.5% market share, with nearest rival Vauxhall down to 11.05%.

Across the industry as a whole, new car demand fell 4.2%, with 134,027 units registered as compared to 139,875 when compared to November 2010.

The three months to November saw sales slip 0.9% on a year ago, while for the past six months new registrations were down 1.8% on 2010. Overall, the market is around 20% below pre-recession levels.

Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: “While the November new car market saw a 4.2% dip, the fuel efficiency of new models broke all records with the average new car achieving 52.5mpg.

“Despite the Chancellor delaying the 3p rise in fuel duty, our cost of fuel is still among the highest in Europe, so customers are sure to welcome the 29.3% improvement in new car fuel efficiency over the last 10 years, a demonstration of industry’s commitment to delivering good value to motorists.”