The new car market has risen over 10% in the first six months of the year according to figures released by the society of motor manufacturers and traders (SMMT) with June up 6.2% on the year before.
In the six months to the end of June the UK car market had 1,287,265 registrations, a 10.6% increase on the same period in 2013. This was the best half year total since 2005 and puts the market on track to exceed 2.4 million cars by the end of the calendar year.
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In June registrations continued to climb year-on-year and were slightly up on May’s 194,032 to 228,291. The rate of increase however was slightly down on the month before at 6.2% compared to 7.7% for May.
Quarterly growth, however, was down significantly on the previous quarter from over 12.5% to below 7.5% as the affects of the March new number plate rush faded and the lull before the September plate change took affect.
Paul Brotherton, head of business strategy, improvement & support at Black Horse commented on the figures saying: "We had anticipated that the new car sales market may slow down ahead of the September plate change but today’s figures are welcome news albeit surprising. Buying a new car has become more accessible and attractive to both new and more experienced car buyers as manufacturers continue to offer competitive finance deals that make owning a new car affordable. Whilst interest rates remain low consumers feel confident to make more expensive purchases as their spending power improves and they feel they have more certainty about the economy. We will have to wait and see if new car sales continue to increase over the summer months or indeed if the rate of growth slows down as demand stabilises."
A stand out among the data reported by the SMMT was the rise in alternatively fuelled vehicle (AFV) registrations. The number of cars in this sector registered in June was 4,160 taking the total for the year to 23,337, an increase of 51.3% on the year before.
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By GlobalDataMonth-on-month the AFV market rose 17.2% from 3,444 demonstrating the increased appetite among consumers for fuel efficient and less polluting vehicles. The SMMT reports that the average new car registered in 2014 delivers 57.4mpg compared to 54.5mpg in 2012.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT said: "Key to attracting consumers is the ever-improving efficiency of new cars, an important factor that is highlighted by the 51.3% increase in alternatively-fuelled vehicle registrations so far this year. The overall market has risen faster than we were expecting but, after a bumper March, growth is showing signs of stabilising around our forecast level."
Private sales began to give up some their market share as business confidence grew in 2014 and the fleet and business market recovered. The private market accounted for 44.5% of registrations in June 2014, compared to 45.1% in the same period a year before. Fleet sales took 49.9% compared to 50.2% but business sales were up to 5.6% from 4.8% the year before.
The Ford Fiesta remains the UK’s most popular car with over 11,000 registered in June. The next best selling car was the Vauxhall Corsa with 7,961 registrations.
Ford remained the best selling brand in the UK with 12.87% of the market share.
AFV registration figures at a glance
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