Sales march on: Roundup
April 12th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
MARCH has been a positive month for new car sales, up 26.6 percent over March 2009, according to SMMT figures.
Hyundai sold over 15,000 cars in March alone, more than half the total number they sold in the whole of 2008.
Much of Hyundai’s success over the past year has been down to the scrappage scheme – but in March, only 1 in 3 cars sold was part of the scheme.
Hyundai MD Tony Whitehorn said: ‘Many industry observers have viewed the enormous success Hyundai has had with scrappage and assume that our sales will collapse once the scheme ends.
‘These figures prove that Hyundai has built up a strong following and its success will continue long into the future.’
It’s a similar story at Kia. They sold 12,277 cars in March, which is almost as many as they sold in the entire of 2003!
Yaser Shabsogh, sales director at Kia UK, said: ‘What is heartening is that whilst scrappage has undoubtedly helped new car volumes since May of last year the general retail marketing is currently very strong.
‘Dealers are reporting good levels of showroom footfall and healthy orders going forward even without scrappage. In fact our Quarter 1 non-scrappage sales were up by 22 per cent against last year.’
Other manufacturers were successful too; Land Rover recorded a sales increase of 67 percent over March 2009, making March 2010 the most successful month in the company’s history.
Ford sales were up 18.7 percent over March 2009, Nissan were up 59 percent, Chrysler 18 percent, Renault a massive 77 percent, and Peugeot 22 percent.
Full SMMT figures were released on the 8th of March, and will be available in issue 26 of Car Dealer Magazine.
By John Slavin
Tags: new car sales, registrations, SMMT