The monthly Glass’s New Car Market Trends report indicates that list prices rose by 1.7%, year-on-year, to the end of May, equivalent to a rise worth £221 for the average vehicle. This is the highest rate of list price inflation since February, when prices rose 2.4%, year-on-year.
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The upper-medium car sector (Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra, Toyota Avensis, etc) has seen the largest price increases over the past 12 months.
Following two years of virtual price stagnation, the last four months have seen sizeable price rises across many models, equivalent to average year-on-year rise of 2.7%, or an additional £432 for each car.
The lower-medium car segment has also seen increases, with five of the big sellers (Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, VW Golf, Toyota Corolla and Citroen C4) replacing outgoing variants in the class at a higher price point. In addition, the emergence of a new generation of ‘MPV-style’ compact family cars has further helped push up average prices in the sector. The best examples are the new Seat Altea and Volkswagen Golf Plus, both with price premiums over their conventional hatchback siblings. The entry-level VW Golf Plus has made its debut in the UK during the last month with a premium of around £500 over the equivalent standard Golf.
The price of the average supermini (Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 206, etc) fell by 0.4%, or £43 over the past year, in part reflecting the arrival of new vehicles at the budget end of the market.
Overall the executive sector (BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, etc) has changed little – down just 0.1%, representing a fall worth a mere £13. However, within the sector there have been some sizeable movements, with price increases from Audi, BMW, Saab and Volvo offset by reductions from Mercedes and Jaguar over the last year.
In pound terms, the single biggest list price rise in May was for the Nissan 350Z 3.5 V6 Coupe, which rose by £500, or 2%, to £25,297.
The largest single list price reduction last month was for the Chevrolet Kalos 1.4 Sport three-door, which fell £305, or 3.2%, to £9,807.
