July Sales: 1st FALL in 1yr
August 5th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
SMMT July new car sales show a big FALL for the first time in a year with registrations down over 13 percent.
Figures just released by the SMMT reveal the market declined 13.2 percent in July 2010 – although the year-to-date total is still up 15.1 percent.
Further falls are expected over the rest of the year, warns SMMT chief exec Paul Everitt. A rest-of-year decline of 15 percent is predicted.
The SMMT did admit, though, ‘the outlook is difficult to predict due to uncertainty over the state of the economy, impact of VAT changes at the start of 2011, levels of pent-up business demand and manufacturers’ ability to build on the past growth momentum.’
2010 overall increase
However, despite this, the overall 2010 new car market is still expected to be up on 2009, with 2.018 million car sales representing a 1.2 percent increase.
The end of scrappage is blamed for the fall.
‘A drop in private registrations compared to the scrappage-fuelled months of 2009 was expected and has brought the first market decline for 12 months,’ said Everitt.
‘Subdued consumer confidence and a still fragile economic recovery make the outlook for the remainder of 2010 challenging, but a stronger than expected first half means full year volumes are still forecast to exceed 2009’s total.’
The Ford Fiesta regained the top slot as overall UK best seller in July.
By Richard Aucock
Tags: new car, registrations, sales, SMMT