UK new car market falls for first time in 43 months – but JLR still flying high
UK new car registrations dropped for the first time in more than three and a half years last month, latest figures have shown.
The drop is seen as an indication that the new car market may finally be levelling off and ends a run of 43 months of consecutive growth.
There were 177,664 new cars registered in October according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, a fall of 1.1% on the same month last year.
Nevertheless, there were still high points within the month; with Jaguar seeing its sales climb more than 70% year-on-year while stable mate Land Rover managed a healthy if not quite as stellar, 40.5% year-on-year increase.
Volkswagen, perhaps feeling the first effects of the emissions scandal, saw its sales drop almost 10% during the month compared with October 2014. However, its Golf (3rd) and Polo (7th) remained in the top ten list of best sellers, with Audi’s A3 in sixth place.
Vauxhall and MINI were among the worst affected brands, falling 16.4% and a near 22% respectively; although the former’s Corsa remains the second bestselling car in the country behind the Ford Fiesta – a trend which is mirrored for the year-to-date.
Choosing to focus on the positive, the SMMT said year-to-date figures for the market as a whole strongly demonstrated that the new car market was still very buoyant – 2,274,550 cars have been registered so far this year, 6.4% more than at this time in 2014, and the best year-to-date performance on record.
Diesel registrations dipped 2.6% for the month and petrol-fuelled vehicles dipped 0.9%, however, the demand for alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) continued to show growth, up 13.8% to reach 3% of the total market for the first time. In the year-to-date, AFV registrations have rocketed 44.8%.
The high-value market segments saw the biggest gains – perhaps explaining the good performance from JLR. Specialist sports and luxury saloon vehicle registrations grew by 59.0% and 23.1% respectively.
Aston Martin – perhaps impacted by the Bond effect following the release of new film Spectre – saw growth of 40%; while Bentley grew by more than 29%.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “The UK car market has gone through a period of unprecedented growth and, so far, 2015 has been a bumper year with the strongest performance since the recession.
“As expected, demand has now begun to level off but the sector is in a strong position, as low interest rates, consumer confidence and exciting new products combine to attract new car buyers. The current full-year growth forecast remains on track.”
