The UK car market was down 6.1% in August, which the SMMT’s chief executive Christopher Macgowan has attributed at least partly to the fact the August has become a ‘quiet month’ for the UK car market.

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Before the registration plate changes in 2001, August was a high volume month. Now there is one of two plate-changes in September, which means that some customers defer purchases until then. The SMMT expects September to deliver around five times the volume of sales reached in August (77,961 units), with September registrations of 395,000 units.


Year-to-date the UK car market is down 4.3% at 1,487,898 units.


For the full year the SMMT is forecasting sales of 2,330,000 units (-4.5%).


“Although fuel prices have fallen recently, the outlook is clouded by economic uncertainty and the effect this has on consumer confidence,” said Macgowan.

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Sales to private buyers dropped the most in August, falling 5.5% to 38,207 units. Business demand lifted 15.1% to 3,806 units, while fleet sales were down 4.0% to 41,514 units. Fleet sales, have shown the smallest decline during the year-to-date (-2.4%), accounting for 49.2% of the market in the first eight months.