Scots new car regs fall 3.17% in August 05 | 09 | 2016
SCOTTISH NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS fell by by 3.17% last month compared to August 2015, but the Scottish Motor Trade Association (SMTA) accepted the figures as being “not as poor as had been feared”.
In the opening eight months of 2016, 135,031 new cars have been registered in Scotland, compared to 136,716 over the same period last year.
Vauxhall continues to lead the market in Scotland with 17,663 cars registered in 2016, up from 17,322 last year.
Ford sits second in the Scottish sales charts, 1902 units adrift of Vauxhall, but a whopping 5736 ahead of Volkswagen which sits comfortably in third place on 10,025.
The top 10 is completed by Audi (7783 units), Renault (7156), BMW (6160), Mercedes (5548), Peugeot (5369), Kia (5062) and Fiat (4941).
And while the Ford Fiesta was the leading car in August, with new registrations of 357, ahead of the Vauxhall Corsa (289), VW Polo (192), Vauxhall Mokka (168) and Ford Focus (163), it’s the Corsa which is the top-seller so far this year.
In the first two-thirds of the year, Vauxhall has registered 5978 Corsas; but that figure is significantly down compared to the opening eight months of 2015 when 7297 Corsa models were registered.
Behind the Corsa, the Fiesta (5556), Vauxhall Astra (3524), Focus (3479), Polo (3403), Mokka (2986), VW Golf (2745), Fiat 500 (2690), Renault Clio (2270) and Mini (2134) complete the 2016 top 10 bestsellers so far.
Across the regions, Borders saw the largest percentage year-on-year drop in August, falling 16.67% compared with August 2015. In contrast, Central enjoyed a 24.73% increase on the corresponding month last year, up from 368 units to 459.
Strathclyde, which continues to dominate the Scottish market, thankfully has only witnessed a 2.31% fall in the opening eight months compered with 2015, down from 69,979 last year to 68,364 last month.
Only Central (5.96%), Fife (2.71%) and Lothian (1.08%) have seen growth over the first two-thirds of 2016.
The strength of the retail car market in Scotland was again evident with 61.4% of new registrations going to private buyers, with the remaining 52.4% fleet.
"August’s registration results show a continued but slowing decline of 3.17% measured against the same period in 2015,” Sandy Burgess, chief executive of the SMTA said. “But these results are actually better than we had considered possible: the recent consumer uncertainty and the September plate change both could have resulted in a far heavier drop of in our Scottish retail-weighted market.
“On a number of previous occasions we have commented on our stronger than average market split here in Scotland with the private sector continuing to show growth.
“This provides us with a more robust measurement for the state of the market, and given that this share is continuing to hold steady within Scotland we are confident for a strong, stable performance for the remainder of the year.
“There is little doubt that a number of factors going forward may have an impact on the market. That said, I am very confident our dealers are both very committed and able to deliver fresh, new, exciting products to service Scotland’s growing number of drivers who appreciate and value all the attributes and benefits derived from owning a newer vehicle.”
The overall UK new car registrations experienced a moderate increase in August of 2.76%, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reporting a UK-wide new car registration figure of 1,680,799.
Related: Scots new car sales dip in April
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Jim McGill