Car Market Up In January, Despite Cold Snap And Vat Rise
Sales of new cars in the UK rose for the seventh successive month in January, to a total of 145,479. That represents a 29.8 per cent increase over January 2009, a figure which Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) called “better than expected”, and attributed to a mixture of what had been expected to be the end of the scrappage scheme, and an especially poor January 12 months previously.
The SMMT had voiced fears that the twin effects of the reversion of VAT to 17.5 per cent, and the withdrawal of the UK government’s scrappage scheme might dampen demand, and it is still forecasting that overall sales for 2010 will be down by nine per cent on the previous year.
If these projections prove correct, that will give an overall new car sales figure for 2010 of 1.8 million – which would be the lowest annual total in the UK since 1993.
Mr Everitt welcomed the government’s announcement of a two-month extension to the car scrappage scheme, saying that it would provide a continued boost to sales: “Scrappage continues to lift demand successfully and (the) announcement of a continuation of the scheme to the end of March will allow the maximum number of people to benefit from the budget that’s still available,” he said.
Despite that positive line, he continued to be cautious about overall prospects for car sales in 2010: “Industry expects another difficult year with the availability of finance, consumer confidence and sustaining demand post-scrappage, key to performance in the second half of the year,” he said. “But signs of recovery in the fleet and business sectors are encouraging,” he concluded.
Here, though, overall figures hide a mixed picture, with van sales in January down only by a marginal 1.7 per cent over the previous January, while truck sales have nosedived, with just over half the number sold this January compared with the same month in 2009.
For no fewer than the 13th month in succession, the best-selling car in the UK was the Ford Fiesta, SMMT figures showing that it was ahead of its larger Ford counterpart, the Focus in the January monthly sales charts.
Among the month’s biggest sales losers was Toyota, its well-publicised woes over fears of ‘sticking’ accelerator pedals having covered its iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Avensis, Verso and Aygo (automatic transmission models only) models.
Work to replace the pedals on up to 181,000 cars was to be done in a programme carried out at Toyota dealers beginning on February 10, once replacement parts had arrived from Japan.
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