Currently reading: UK car sales set to fall in 2010
SMMT chief expects sales to drop to 1.8m units in 2010

New car sales in the UK are expected to drop to around 1.8 million units in 2010, a drop from 1.95m this year.

The government-backed scrappage incentive scheme is scheduled to run out in February and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief executive Paul Everitt predicts this will have a major impact on the UK’s new car sales next year.

“We’re about to enter a very uncertain period for the UK car industry,” Everitt told Autocar. “The truth is we just don’t know what’s going happen after scrappage. Our 1.8m units prediction is a conservative one, but there are a lot of factors which could help push sales above or below this.”

Everitt believes the main benefactors from the scrappage scheme are those who wouldn’t have normally bought a new car.

See the hi-res pics of what's being scrapped in the UK

“Those who normally buy new cars have generally been staying away from showrooms over fears of job security and strains on their income,” he said.

“They don’t have a 10-year-old car to scrap and that’s meant the sales have come from a new type of customer, one who hasn’t necessarily bought a new car before.”

Fleet sales have been consistently down around 25 per cent this year and Everitt said there is pent-up demand in this market waiting to be released.

“Fleet operators have decided to keep hold of their cars for an extra year, but they can’t keep on holding onto them,” he said. “The market confidence is slowly coming back and I expect to see sales rise in the fleet sector soon.”

The imminent VAT rise of 1 January is likely to lead to an increase in sales towards the end of this year, while Everitt also warned that whoever wins next year’s election will almost certainly raise taxes.

“We just hope that any tax rises don’t apply to the car industry,” said Everitt. “Ideally next year we’d like to see some help for the fleet and commercial sectors and more incentives to get people back in showrooms.”

Mark Tisshaw

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superheater 17 November 2009

Re: UK car sales set to fall in 2010

A big incentive to get more people into car showrooms would be to reduce the price of cars generally. It really is that easy, at least in my view. And if it means those employed in the car industry have to suffer pay cuts then so be it. There's a lot of pressure on family budgets these days and purchasing a new (or even used) car is often way down the list.

TegTypeR 17 November 2009

Re: UK car sales set to fall in 2010

“We just hope that any tax rises don’t apply to the car industry,” said Everitt. “Ideally next year we’d like to see some help for the fleet and commercial sectors and more incentives to get people back in showrooms.”

Unfortunately Mr Everitt, I have a sneaking suspicion that coming up to the election, the car will once again be daemonised in the name of being green and politically correct and will be cited as a money making focal point to pay off the national debt - no matter what party gets in.

I would also guess the fleet and commercial market are going to get hit the hardest.