Sales of new cars raced ahead at an annualised rate of 8.4 per cent last month, making it the strongest February since 2004.
This year’s figures to date also show that the crossover, specifically the Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai, is breaking the stranglehold of the Ford, Vauxhall and Volkwagen hatchbacks in the league table of bestsellers.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manfacuturers & Traders show that 83,395 new cars were registered in February. Although it is one of the slower months, coming ahead of the big March registration plate change, new car sales in the year to date were 4.7 per cent ahead of 2015, itself a record year with sales hitting 2.66 million. Demand from private buyers increased by 22 per cent, outweighing a 1 per cent fall in fleet transactions.
The trade body’s figures continue to confound predictions. The industry has been expecting a slowdown in British car sales for much of the past two years. Most recently it has been assumed that the fall in the pound and the strengthening of continental economies would unwind the trend of recent years, in which European manufacturers have driven more vehicles at competitive prices into the UK marketplace.
“Last year’s rapid growth [up 7.5 per cent] was in part due to the strength of sterling, so the recent weakening of the pound may contribute to registrations reaching a natural peak,” Ian Gilmartin, the retail commentator at Barclays, said.
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However, he added: “Today’s data indicate that there are lots of reasons for the recent optimism among car sellers to continue.”
In the year so far, the Ford Fiesta remains the undisputed champion of the showroom forecourt, alone accounting for more than one in every twenty cars sold.
However, the Qashqai has roared into second place, overtaking several fixtures at the top of the bestsellers’ league, such as Vauxhall’s Corsa and Astra models and the Golf and the Polo from Volkswagen. Other crossovers, or upright estate vehicles, namely Nissan’s Juke and the Vauxhall Mokka, also made it into the top ten.
The scandal around VW’s emissions cheating appears to continue to weigh heavily on sales. In the year to date, VW sales are down 13 per cent, while sales at its stablemate Skoda are off by 11 per cent. They are not alone, however. Other marques such as Vauxhall, Fiat and Mini have reported reverses in 2016 of about 10 per cent so far this year.
