Scots cars sales dip 5.08% in April 09 | 05 | 2016
NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS in Scotland in April may have surprisingly dipped 5.08% year-on-year, with 14,619 cars sold, but the number of private buyers continues to grow. In the first four months of 2016, private buyers accounted for a 53% share of the new car market in Scotland.
And while Ford filled the top two bestsellers last month, with the Ford Fiesta and Focus, it’s Vauxhall which continues to dominate the Scottish market, with a 14.54% share.
In terms of new models, Fiesta topped the sales charts in April with 589 sales, followed by the Focus (458), Vauxhall Astra (425), Volkswagen Polo (393) and Fiat 500 (369).
The top 10 was completed by the VW Golf (356), Vauxhall Mokka (293), Audi A3 (257), Hyundai Tucson (254) and Nissan Qashqai (245).
The Vauxhall Corsa remains the top-selling car in the opening four months of 2016 with 3941 units registered, followed by the Fiesta (3016), Astra (2338), Polo (1942) and Focus (1922).
The Fiat 500 (1753), Mokka (1733), Golf (1596), Vauxhall Viva (1304) and Renault Clio round-off the top 10.
In terms of manufacturers, Vauxhall leads the way so far this year with 11,532 (14.54%) cars registered, ahead of Ford (8781/11.07%), VW (5844/7.37%), Audi (4668/5.89%) and Renault (4026/5.06%), with BMW (3313/4.18%), Mercedes (3218/4.06%), Toyota (2971/3.75%), Kia (2876/3.63%) and Fiat (2809/3.54%) completing the top 10.
Related: Scots new car sales surge in March
Incredibly, all nine regions in Scotland saw car registrations drop year-on-year in April. This contributed to the fact that while the UK market as a whole grew 2.65% in April, and 4.55% in the year to date, so far this year the Scottish market has improved just under 1%.
In percentage terms the biggest year-on-year fall came in Central, down 13.66% from 1091 in April 2015, to 942 last month. In terms of units, despite reporting a drop of just 3.15%, Strathclyde suffered the most with sales down 232 from 7359 in April ’15, to 7127 last month.
"Unusually we have experienced a cooling off in all regions,” Sandy Burgess, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, said. “This is something we have not seen for many years.
“The reductions however are in most cases minimal, with Lothian recording a 0.70% drop whilst Central lost the most ground with a 13.66% fall off. Despite this we are still up almost 1.00% on 2015 numbers, whereas the rest of the UK has reported a growth of 4.55% year to date.
Related: Roadtest — Ford Focus RS
“There continues to be a degree of tactical registrations by certain manufacturers which can distort the market reporting, and the impact of such actions can reflect more when comparing our predominantly retail market to the rest of the UK, which is more fleet driven.
“Scotland’s private car buyer continues their car buying love affair with more new, economically and environmentally-improved vehicles going on to Scotland’s roads. The private share continues to grow month-on-month and now stands at over 53% year to date for 2016. A real indicator of consumer confidence.
“Footfall has tailed off in recent weeks, which we would suggest is understandable given the activity levels of hopeful politicians seeking to gain entry to Holyrood.
“Now that this situation has been resolved, we anticipate some degree of normality returning to the market, recognising that we do however have another EU referendum on the horizon.
“Given all of the above and feedback from our dealers — who all have fantastic deals available on current models supported by attractive finance packages and lower running costs, plus some stunning new models coming out over the next few months — we are very optimistic for the Scottish market matching, or even exceeding. 2015 outstanding result."
Related: Ford Edge tops 60,000 configurations
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/Scotcars
Jim McGill