After a strong March, the UK car market continued its upward trend in April with car sales up 8.2% to 176,820 units, the 26th consecutive month of growth.
The SMMT revised its forecast for car sales for 2014 up to 2.4m units as the market continued to benefit from improving economic conditions.
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“After the bumper plate-change month of March, the UK car market returned to more modest but still positive growth in April,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. “This marks 26 consecutive months of growth as GDP continues to pick up, inflation falls and wage levels improve.
“As UK economic confidence improves still further and the market continues its upward trend, we have revised our 2014 forecast up from 2.3m to over 2.4m registrations. This represents an increase of more than 6% versus last year.”
David Raistrick, UK Automotive Leader at Deloitte noted that the UK car market is leading the recovery of Europe’s car market. “The growth in the UK new car market and the positive message it is sending out about the recovery of economic activity in the UK is leading the overall European car market towards a more optimistic 2014,” he said. “Whilst the key European markets in Germany, France and Italy are showing confident growth numbers, the UK market is growing at a rate two to four times greater. The UK alone has contributed a third of the overall European growth in new car sales for the first quarter of the year.”
He also highlighted higher sales in the UK fleet market. “What has been particularly pleasing is that fleet and business sales in the UK market are recovering and supporting the impressive private sales market, which outperformed expectations during 2013. This would suggest that businesses are having the confidence to invest in renewing their fleets. They are being supported in doing so by innovative solutions such as the salary sacrifice schemes, making this a cost effective benefit for their employees while also leading the drive to reduce emissions.”
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By GlobalData| REGISTRATIONS OF NEW CARS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM – BY MARQUE | ||||||||||
| APRIL | % Change | YEAR-TO-DATE | % Change | |||||||
| MARQUE | 2014 | % Market share | 2013 | % Market share | 2014 | % Market share | 2013 | % Market share | ||
| Abarth | 114 | 0.06 | 101 | 0.06 | 12.87 | 534 | 0.06 | 479 | 0.06 | 11.48 |
| Alfa Romeo | 377 | 0.21 | 445 | 0.27 | -15.28 | 1,953 | 0.23 | 1,931 | 0.25 | 1.14 |
| Aston Martin | 58 | 0.03 | 98 | 0.06 | -40.82 | 315 | 0.04 | 357 | 0.05 | -11.76 |
| Audi | 12,958 | 7.33 | 10,823 | 6.63 | 19.73 | 56,724 | 6.56 | 49,085 | 6.39 | 15.56 |
| Bentley | 108 | 0.06 | 117 | 0.07 | -7.69 | 580 | 0.07 | 379 | 0.05 | 53.03 |
| BMW | 10,484 | 5.93 | 8,866 | 5.43 | 18.25 | 48,421 | 5.60 | 40,188 | 5.23 | 20.49 |
| Chevrolet | 85 | 0.05 | 1,097 | 0.67 | -92.25 | 2,646 | 0.31 | 4,124 | 0.54 | -35.84 |
| Chrysler | 154 | 0.09 | 137 | 0.08 | 12.41 | 744 | 0.09 | 862 | 0.11 | -13.69 |
| Citroen | 6,028 | 3.41 | 6,527 | 4.00 | -7.65 | 30,206 | 3.49 | 28,714 | 3.74 | 5.20 |
| Dacia | 1,979 | 1.12 | 2,016 | 1.23 | -1.84 | 8,800 | 1.02 | 3,994 | 0.52 | 120.33 |
| Fiat | 4,760 | 2.69 | 4,394 | 2.69 | 8.33 | 23,542 | 2.72 | 19,271 | 2.51 | 22.16 |
| Ford | 25,843 | 14.62 | 22,178 | 13.58 | 16.53 | 120,719 | 13.96 | 106,525 | 13.86 | 13.32 |
| Honda | 3,043 | 1.72 | 3,042 | 1.86 | 0.03 | 21,308 | 2.46 | 21,186 | 2.76 | 0.58 |
| Hyundai | 6,122 | 3.46 | 5,772 | 3.53 | 6.06 | 29,225 | 3.38 | 25,758 | 3.35 | 13.46 |
| Infiniti | 22 | 0.01 | 68 | 0.04 | -67.65 | 138 | 0.02 | 188 | 0.02 | -26.60 |
| Jaguar | 1,209 | 0.68 | 1,080 | 0.66 | 11.94 | 6,683 | 0.77 | 6,058 | 0.79 | 10.32 |
| Jeep | 203 | 0.11 | 141 | 0.09 | 43.97 | 919 | 0.11 | 647 | 0.08 | 42.04 |
| Kia | 5,966 | 3.37 | 5,628 | 3.45 | 6.01 | 27,574 | 3.19 | 24,832 | 3.23 | 11.04 |
| Land Rover | 4,381 | 2.48 | 3,483 | 2.13 | 25.78 | 21,479 | 2.48 | 22,248 | 2.89 | -3.46 |
| Lexus | 691 | 0.39 | 509 | 0.31 | 35.76 | 3,731 | 0.43 | 2,770 | 0.36 | 34.69 |
| Lotus | 13 | 0.01 | 16 | 0.01 | -18.75 | 56 | 0.01 | 58 | 0.01 | -3.45 |
| Maserati | 130 | 0.07 | 17 | 0.01 | 664.71 | 317 | 0.04 | 104 | 0.01 | 204.81 |
| Mazda | 2,177 | 1.23 | 1,768 | 1.08 | 23.13 | 14,664 | 1.70 | 10,843 | 1.41 | 35.24 |
| Mercedes-Benz | 8,736 | 4.94 | 7,631 | 4.67 | 14.48 | 42,535 | 4.92 | 36,633 | 4.77 | 16.11 |
| MG | 221 | 0.12 | 13 | 0.01 | 1,600.00 | 767 | 0.09 | 94 | 0.01 | 715.96 |
| Mia | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| MINI | 2,992 | 1.69 | 3,350 | 2.05 | -10.69 | 12,759 | 1.48 | 15,284 | 1.99 | -16.52 |
| Mitsubishi | 925 | 0.52 | 888 | 0.54 | 4.17 | 3,652 | 0.42 | 3,931 | 0.51 | -7.10 |
| Nissan | 9,446 | 5.34 | 8,083 | 4.95 | 16.86 | 47,254 | 5.46 | 42,014 | 5.47 | 12.47 |
| Perodua | 4 | 0.00 | 24 | 0.01 | -83.33 | 16 | 0.00 | 122 | 0.02 | -86.89 |
| Peugeot | 7,245 | 4.10 | 7,203 | 4.41 | 0.58 | 39,678 | 4.59 | 38,463 | 5.00 | 3.16 |
| Porsche | 914 | 0.52 | 735 | 0.45 | 24.35 | 3,054 | 0.35 | 2,395 | 0.31 | 27.52 |
| Proton | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 0.00 | -100.00 | 1 | 0.00 | 15 | 0.00 | -93.33 |
| Renault | 3,454 | 1.95 | 2,980 | 1.82 | 15.91 | 21,110 | 2.44 | 12,786 | 1.66 | 65.10 |
| Saab | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0.00 | -100.00 | 1 | 0.00 | 3 | 0.00 | -66.67 |
| SEAT | 3,637 | 2.06 | 3,983 | 2.44 | -8.69 | 17,660 | 2.04 | 14,440 | 1.88 | 22.30 |
| Skoda | 6,053 | 3.42 | 5,050 | 3.09 | 19.86 | 26,360 | 3.05 | 20,554 | 2.67 | 28.25 |
| smart | 367 | 0.21 | 402 | 0.25 | -8.71 | 1,657 | 0.19 | 1,866 | 0.24 | -11.20 |
| Ssangyong | 84 | 0.05 | 48 | 0.03 | 75.00 | 513 | 0.06 | 211 | 0.03 | 143.13 |
| Subaru | 129 | 0.07 | 118 | 0.07 | 9.32 | 799 | 0.09 | 787 | 0.10 | 1.52 |
| Suzuki | 2,193 | 1.24 | 1,681 | 1.03 | 30.46 | 13,713 | 1.59 | 11,637 | 1.51 | 17.84 |
| Toyota | 6,838 | 3.87 | 6,500 | 3.98 | 5.20 | 34,570 | 4.00 | 32,565 | 4.24 | 6.16 |
| Vauxhall | 17,052 | 9.64 | 17,645 | 10.80 | -3.36 | 91,344 | 10.56 | 86,872 | 11.30 | 5.15 |
| Volkswagen | 16,590 | 9.38 | 16,096 | 9.85 | 3.07 | 72,861 | 8.42 | 65,356 | 8.50 | 11.48 |
| Volvo | 2,889 | 1.63 | 2,404 | 1.47 | 20.17 | 12,798 | 1.48 | 11,330 | 1.47 | 12.96 |
| Other British | 70 | 0.04 | 101 | 0.06 | -30.69 | 272 | 0.03 | 287 | 0.04 | -5.23 |
| Other Imports | 76 | 0.04 | 94 | 0.06 | -19.15 | 285 | 0.03 | 309 | 0.04 | -7.77 |
| Total | 176,820 | 163,357 | 8.24 | 864,942 | 768,555 | 12.54 | ||||
| Best selling models | |||||
| April | Year-to-date | ||||
| 1 | Ford Fiesta | 10,250 | 1 | Ford Fiesta | 49,490 |
| 2 | Ford Focus | 6,772 | 2 | Ford Focus | 31,531 |
| 3 | VW Golf | 5,302 | 3 | Vauxhall Corsa | 27,788 |
| 4 | Vauxhall Corsa | 3,949 | 4 | VW Golf | 24,462 |
| 5 | Audi A3 | 3,754 | 5 | Vauxhall Astra | 21,027 |
| 6 | Nissan Qashqai | 3,753 | 6 | VW Polo | 17,080 |
| 7 | Vauxhall Astra | 3,562 | 7 | Nissan Qashqai | 16,690 |
| 8 | VW Polo | 3,449 | 8 | Audi A3 | 15,337 |
| 9 | Nissan Juke | 3,053 | 9 | Fiat 500 | 14,613 |
| 10 | Fiat 500 | 2,928 | 10 | BMW 3 Series | 13,523 |
