Cars Registrations SMMT News

Economic downturn causes dip in July’s new car market

04 August 2011 #Cars #Registrations #SMMT News
  • New car registrations fell 3.5% in July to 131,634 units.
  • Market down 6.7% over the year-to-date with the 13th successive monthly decline in volumes.
  • Fleet purchases support the market, up 2.1% in July and by 3.3% over the year-to-date.
  • Market remains on track to meet full year forecast of 1.93 million units.

“New car registration figures fell marginally by 3.5% to 131,634 units in July, reflecting the impact of slower economic growth and subdued consumer confidence,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. “Robust demand in the fleet sector helped to bolster weaker private demand. While the coming months remain challenging, performance in the second half of 2011 is expected to keep the market on course to reach around 1.93 million units.”

July Total Diesel Petrol AFV Private Fleet Business
2011 131,634 68,953 61,256 1,425 50,574 75,505 5,555
2010 136,446 69,006 65,562 1,878 55,716 73,968 6,762
% change -3.5% -0.1% -6.6% -24.1% -9.2% 2.1% -17.8%
Mkt share ’11 52.4% 46.5% 1.1% 38.4% 57.4% 4.2%
Mkt share ’10 50.6% 48.0% 1.4% 40.8% 54.2% 5.0%
Year-to-date Total Diesel Petrol AFV Private Fleet Business
2011 1,161,272 583,391 563,430 14,451 488,771 613,320 59,181
2010 1,245,108 547,514 684,248 13,346 590,902 593,891 60,315
% change -6.7% 6.6% -17.7% 8.3% -17.3% 3.3% -1.9%
Mkt share ’11 50.2% 48.5% 1.2% 42.1% 52.8% 5.1%
Mkt share ’10 44.0% 55.0% 1.1% 47.5% 47.7% 4.8%
Best sellers July Year-to-date
1 Fiesta 6,695 1 Fiesta 58,338
2 Focus 6,235 2 Focus 50,060
3 Corsa 5,122 3 Corsa 43,719
4 Golf 4,272 4 Golf 37,390
5 Astra 4,084 5 Astra 36,967
6 Insignia 4,037 6 Insignia 29,987
7 3 Series 3,693 7 Polo 26,581
8 Polo 3,684 8 3 Series 25,559
9 Qashqai 3,391 9 Qashqai 23,383
10 Passat 2,514 10 MINI 20,337

Market continues to decline, with private volumes subdued

  • New car registrations have fallen consecutively over the past 13 months. The 3.5% fall in registrations in July was broadly in line with expectations, given the challenging economic climate. The pace of decline was less than falls recorded earlier in the year, as expected given the subsiding effect of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme.
  • The fleet market continued to improve and support the overall market position. Private new car registrations fell by 9.2% in July and have fallen by 17.3% or over 100,000 units over the first seven months of the year. The impact of the scrappage scheme predominantly influenced private volumes. The sluggish nature of economic recovery, high inflation and modest wage growth are acting as dampeners to consumer confidence.
  • A modest fall in July had been expected within SMMT’s full year forecast of the new car market edging down to 1.93 million units this year, a 5% drop over the 2010 market.
  • Diesel registrations were just 53 units shy of last July’s level and over the year-to-date have grown by over 35,000 units to account for 50.2% of the overall market and 52.4% of the July market, up from 44.0% and 50.6% respectively a year ago. Vauxhall’s Insignia was the top selling diesel in July, just ahead of the year-to-date best selling VW Golf.
  • The Ford Fiesta was the best selling model in the overall new car market in both July and the year-to-date.
  • The Supermini segment accounted for an improved 34.2% share of the July market in 2011, but only the Mini and Executive segments posted growth in the month.

Click through to download the full July 2011 registrations news release and data tables.

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