New car sales RISE in July!
SMMT figures show that car sales rose for the first time in 15 MONTHS in July – thanks to scrappage.
157,149 cars were sold in the month, which represents a 2.4 percent growth in the month.
This is thanks to the boost from the scrappage scheme, which has brought private buyers into car dealer showrooms
Small cars showed particularly strong growth, with the Ford Fiesta leading the sales charts, and Hyundai scoring an impressive top-9 sales slot overall.
Ford’s getting used to this success – the Fiesta has now led the sales charts for 8 months in the past 9!
But the champagne corks really will be popping at Hyundai. It’s the first time the brand has EVER been a top-10 best-seller.
‘The impact of the scrappage scheme is clear,’ said SMMT chief exec Paul Everitt.
‘We are encouraged by the positive impact it has had, increasing new car registrations for the first time since April 2008.
‘Industry still faces a long road to recovery – and we urge government to take action to sustain economic recovery, through easing access to finance and credit, and delivering the loan guarantees set out by the Automotive Assistance Programme.’
The market is, however, still down by over half a million cars over the past 12 months. The focus for the coming months will be on helping reduce this disparity with further positive effects from scrappage.
Even so, July’s 2.4 percent gain was over 10 percent ABOVE SMMT forecasts – although this was still 10 percent below the 1999-2008 July average.
Private buyers are leading the drive for sales – over a third more buyers with their own cash came to car dealer showrooms in July: this increase is the second one in succession.
Indeed, it’s the best month for private sales since 2004!
Car dealers shouldn’t get carried away, though. The new car market is still down 22.8 percent so far this year – the 12-month drop represents 548,330 fewer car sales.
The SMMT has revised its estimates for overall annual sales, though. It now expects to see 1.825 million car sales for 2009, down 14.4 percent on last year. In 2010, there is a FURTHER decline predicted, of 5 percent, taking the total to 1.73 million cars.
July Top 10 best sellers
1 Ford Fiesta
2 Ford Focus
3 Vauxhall Corsa
4 Vauxhall Astra
5 Volkswagen Golf
6 Peugeot 207
7 Vauxhall Insignia
8 BMW 3 Series
9 Hyundai i10
10 Renault Clio
Tags: Ford, hyundai, new car scrap, scrappage, SMMT