The UK auto industry trade association, the SMMT, has reported that the UK new passenger car market declined by 9.1% to 186,769 units. However, the SMMT also issued a bullish forecast for 2003.
Christopher Macgowan, SMMT chief executive, said: “We need to caution against reading too much into one month’s figures. Despite a dip in January registrations, the market is still strong, with figures on a par with January 2001. The long-term forecast for this year is 2.4 million units which would make 2003 the third strongest year on record, beaten only by exceptional results in 2001 and 2002.”
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In 2002, new car registrations hit 2,563,631 units and 2,458,769 in 2001.
The SMMT also noted that the share of diesel continues to rise. Diesel car registrations were up 11% to 50,760 units in January, taking a record 27.2% share. The SMMT said that diesel penetration is expected to reach 28% of overall sales in 2003, or 672,000 units.
