Monthly new car registration figures hit a five-year high in September as the 63-plate registration change gave the UK market a substantial boost.
A total of 403,136 new cars were registered last month, which represents a rise of 12.1 per cent compared to the same month in 2012.
That makes September 2013 the best-performing month since March 2008 in terms of overall volume. It is the first time in more than five years that more than 400,000 new cars have been registered in a single month.
Increases in private registrations are underpinning the industry’s recovery. The growth reflects buyers coming back to the market after a period of postponing their new car purchases. With running costs becoming ever-more important for motorists, cars equipped with more frugal engines are selling in increasing numbers.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, is confident that the overall growth is sustainable, particularly because the fleet and business sectors are also showing signs of recovery.
“This is the 19th consecutive month of steady growth and, with fleet and business demand still to reach pre-recession levels, we believe the performance to be sustainable. The latest 63-plate should deliver success into next year,” he said.
Petrol is also edging diesel as the UK market’s most popular fuel choice again. So far this year, petrol cars have accounted for 49.6 per cent of the market, with oilburners at 49 per cent. However, at the same point last year diesel cars had a 50.4 per cent market share while petrols only had 48.2 per cent.
The alternatively fuelled vehicle market share is remaining constant year-on-year, with a 1.4 per cent share.
The Ford Fiesta maintained its now-customary position as the UK’s best-selling car, with 20,629 examples registered during September.
UK’s best-selling cars for September 2013
1 Ford Fiesta 20,629 units
2 Vauxhall Corsa 14,464
3 Ford Focus 14,295
4 Volkswagen Golf 12,265
5 Vauxhall Astra 11,014
6 BMW 1-series 10,084
7 BMW 3-series 8309
8 Peugeot 208 7953
9 Nissan Qashqai 7771
10 Fiat 500 7422
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polo stats
for those of you who are interested the VW polo is in 11th position with 6,572 units sold in September, the big surprise for me though is the Vauxhall Corsa which despite its age is up to 2nd place. and of course the excellent result by BMW.
Actually one car that I have
Actually one car that I have noticed as missing from the top 10 for a while now is the MINI. It used to be in there regularly. Wonder if the countryman stole the sales of the standard hatch, because MINI sold over 10000.
Also, looking at the list on the SMMT shows up some interesting figures.
Dacia sold more cars than Chevrolet, despite only selling 2 different cars vs 8 from chev.
104 people bought an MG, most probably demo cars I would say, but it will be interesting to see how that changes whent the MG3 sales start.
13 people bought a Perodua. Who are these people?? That's 10 more than Proton!
Land Rover out sell Jaguar 3 to 1
superstevie wrote:Actually
I think the Countryman has definitely diluted sales of the standard hatch, but I think the MINI's topple from the top 10 has more to do with its age. The second generation is 7 years old now, and all the dealers I've visited over recent months have been very open about the forthcoming new model. More importantly, the MINI simply has more rivals than it had years ago, especially the A1 and the DS3. The latter, in particular, must be taking a good number of MINI sales. Citroen dealers have healthy stocks of DS3 and are offering very generous discounts off list price, plus an additional "conquest" allowance if you're trading in a MINI. Its very tempting.
Hall of mirrors (SMMT)
The SMMT do come up with the odd whooper now and again.
The two reports I read this last week are that the reason why the number of new car registration has gone up recently is due in no small part to the timing of the vast amounts of money being put into the consumer market by PPI payment refunds.
Strange that the SMMT adopt the same blinkered logic as common with FIFA, The FA and currently with Micheal Gove and David Cameron.