New car sales dropped 3.5% in July 2011 compared to 2010 figures, with falling demand from private car buyers driving the decline.
Retail buyers bought 9.2% fewer cars in 2011, as the impact of weak economic conditions and market uncertainty saw buyers put off new car purchases.
Company car sales were, in contrast, up on 2010 figures. The boost was a modest 2.1%, but it still helped a fragile new car market – particularly as fleet purchases now account for a substantial 57.4% of all UK new car sales.
Private buyers, in contrast, take 38.4% of new cars, down from the 2010 figure of 40.8%.
The SMMT says the July decline is “broadly in line with expectations, given the challenging economic climate”. The pace of decline has slowed: year-to-date, the UK new car market is actually down 6.7%, although this is because figures in early 2011 were still affected by the ending of the scrappage scheme: things haven’t improved as 2011 has gone on.
“While the coming months remain challenging,” said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt, “performance in the second half of 2011 is expected to keep the market on course to reach around 1.93 million units”.
Top car in July 2011 was once again the Ford Fiesta, with the Ford Focus in second, Vauxhall Corsa in 3rd and Volkswagen Golf in 4th all continuing the trend we’ve seen so far this year: that’s the league table of new car sales year-to-date, too.
The supermini share of the new car market grew in July 2011, to 34.2% of new car sales, while diesels now take more than half of all new car sales: the 52.4% share of the market is up from last year’s 50.6%.
The UK’s favourite diesel car in July 2011 was the Vauxhall Insignia, just ahead of the VW Golf that leads the year-to-date diesel sales rankings.
Top 10 best sellers – July 2011
1 Ford Fiesta
2 Ford Focus
3 Vauxhall Corsa
4 Volkswagen Golf
5 Vauxhall Astra
6 Vauxhall Insignia
7 BMW 3 Series
8 Volkswagen Polo
9 Nissan Qashqai
10 Volkswagen Passat
