Scots new car sales slip 0.24% 06 | 10 | 2016

NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS in Scotland last month totalled 43,448, a drop of only 106 units, or 0.24%, compared with September last year. The rest of the UK market grew by 1.74%. Vauxhall continues to dominate the Scottish market after the opening nine months of 2016.

Through to the end of September, Vauxhall racked up 22,640 new registrations in Scotland, accounting for 12.68% of the market share: that compares with 23,206 and 12.87% in the corresponding period last year.

Ford holds a comfortable second place with 19,625 (11.00%), followed by Volkswagen (13,394 and 7.5%), Renault (10,834 & 6.07%) and Audi (10,390 & 5.82%).

The top 10 is completed by BMW (8455 & 4.74%) in sixth, followed by Mercedes (7404 & 4.15%), Peugeot (6865 & 3.85%), Fiat (6472 & 3.63%) and Nissan (6446 & 3.61%).

In total, over the opening nine months of the year, 178,479 new cars have been registered in Scotland, down from 180,270 over the same period in 2015.

The Vauxhall Corsa was again the best-selling model last month with 2361 units registered, followed by the Renault Clio (1539), Ford Fiesta (1390), VW Polo (1076) and Renault Captur (1007).

The top 10 was completed by the Ford Focus and VW Golf, which both sold 975 units in sixth-placed, the Fiat 500 (956), Mini (835) and Audi A3 (810).

The Cora retains its position as Scotland’s leading new car through the opening nine months with 8339 units registered, 1393 ahead of the second-placed Fiesta. The Polo holds third (4479), just 25 more than the fourth-placed Focus. The Astra, with 4213, lies fifth.

The top 10 comprises the Clio (3809), Golf (3720), Fiat 500 (3646), Vauxhall Mokka (3513) and Captur (3018).

Across the regions Fife, and Dumfries & Galloway registered the largest drops, both down more than 8% last month compared with September 2015. Fife fell from 2182 to 1987 units, with Dumfries & Galloway dealers registering a drop from 807 to 740.

And while the biggest percentage increase was in Borders, which increased by 5.89% from 509 to 539 September year-on-year, the single largest volume growth was in Strathclyde. Scotland’s busiest region for car sales grew from 23,605 in September 2015 to 23,715 last month, an increase of 110 units.

Sandy Burgess, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association welcomed the latest Scottish new vehicle registration figures.

“The Scottish new car registrations numbers have been welcomed as wholly acceptable to most,” he said. “Recording a slight decline at 43,448 units against last year’s 43,554 is really a welcome outcome, given that the market went very quiet in the middle of the month for many of our dealerships.

“There has been strong activity once again in the retail sector with Scotland continuing to hold a year-to-date lead at 50.77% against the rest of the UK’s retail share year-to-date of 45.7%. This holds well for our retail-orientated market, for many years to come, given the high penetration of Personal Contracts written to finance the vehicles and the replacement cycles they are on.

“The rest of the UK market is up by 1.74% for the month of September year-on-year, and the overall position is still a very positive result at a record 469,696 units and 1.55% growth for the month.

“This collates to a market that has now exceeded two million units’ year-to-date. This is only the second time that the two million mark has been passed, the last being in September 2004, the year that the annual market last peaked.

“We still see alternatively-fuelled vehicles running ahead of the market, up 32.6% against the same month last year, with a market share of 3.4% for the UK as a whole.

“It is also very encouraging to note that the Grampian market is actually now one of the strongest performers, with an increase of 2.14% on last year’s results. This is helping to diminish the market drop off experienced earlier in the year.

“The attraction of the latest 66 number plate, combined with a fantastic range of new exciting products featuring the very latest technology, has certainly helped draw buyers into showrooms and many are taking full advantage of the attractive deals and low interest financing options on offer.

“The industry has done well to ensure that the business customers and private consumers have taken up these superb offers and placed their orders for September 2016 many months in advance.

“So the ability of the market to maintain this record level of demand will depend on the ability of government to overcome political uncertainty and safeguard the conditions that underpin consumer appetite.”

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Jim McGill

Scots new car sales slip 0.24% 06 | 10 | 2016

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