UK car manufacturers and distributors are forecasting another year of growth for the UK car market.
At a gathering in London last week organised by Car Dealer Magazine, car company bosses were upbeat in their assessment of 2014 car sales prospects in Britain.
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Last year, new car registrations bounced back to pre-recession levels with 2.26m units chalked up by car manufacturers in the UK. Many have been asking whether this is sustainable in 2014 – and it appears bosses feel it most certainly is.
Trevor Finn, CEO of car dealer group Pendragon, said: “In my mind there is no question the car market will grow. While the southern European markets remain under pressure then the UK will take some of that capacity and the cars will find a way into the market. There’s no reason why we won’t see some growth again.”
Renault Group UK managing director Ken Ramirez was even more upbeat – predicting a healthy surge in sales by as much as 10%.
“We see the pace in volume being very similar with up to 10 per cent growth versus 2013,” he said. “But the mix of sales will be different and retail will be stronger.”
Jon Wellsman, aftersales director for Ford – the UK’s biggest selling car manufacturer last year with 310,856 new cars shifted – believes many buyers who’ve put off shelling out will do so in 2014.
He said: ‘Now customers are feeling a little bit more confident about the economy and the recovery, we will see more coming into showrooms and replacing their vehicles, some of which are actually getting quite old now as they’ve postponed purchasing decisions. I think they’ll take that decision to buy this year.’
None of the eleven car company bosses surveyed by Car Dealer Magazine said they thought UK car sales in 2014 would fall.
