Tag Archives: SMMT

New Car Sales Drop

Unfortunately the sale of new cars here in the UK has not been going well for quite a few months now. If you are involved in the buying and selling of new vehicles you would have been hoping that things would have picked up in March 2018 as it is one of two months in the year when cars are issued with n amended registration number – last month it was the “18” plate.

Regrettably, March was not a good month for new car registrations according to statistics produced by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) here in the UK.  Only 474,069 new cars were registered last month with this figure being way below the number of new cars registered in March 2017 when 562,337 were registered – a fall of over 15%. We are sure you will agree that is a significant reduction and one that will no doubt concern the motor trade.

There has been a dramatic drop in the number of people buying new diesel cars that is apparent from the figures produced by the SMMT. In March 2018 only 153,594 new cars sold were fuelled by diesel whereas in March 2017 the figure was 244,593 – that is a fall of over 37%.  The sale of new Alternatively Fuelled Vehicles (AFVs) has continued to go up from 22,818 in March 2017 to 24,126 in March 2018 – a rise of 5.7%.

Private new car sales fell from 272,719 in March 2017 to 228,623 in March 2018 – a large drop of 16.5%. Fleet new car sales dropped from 261,941 in March 2017 to 222,595 in March 2018 – a fall of 15%. Business new car sales fell from 26, 677 in March 2017 to 22,851 in March 2018 – a reduction of 14.3%.

The top 3 selling cars in March 2018 were: –

  1. Ford Fiesta 19,272
  2. Volkswagen Golf 13,966
  3. Nissan Qashqai 12,018

There are many thousands of people employed in the motor trade industry so let us hope that the sale of new cars here in the UK picks up in the coming months. If it does, this may avoid some people loosing their jobs in the motor trade.

Car Manufacturing In The UK Is Booming

imagesMotorists may be interested to read that car manufacturing is doing very nicely here in the UK with the number of new cars built reaching a 10 year high in 2015 when 1,587,677 new cars came off production lines. The £10 billion that has been invested in producing new models and in certain other areas of the industry during the last 5 years would appear to be proving beneficial. Of those vehicles, 1,227,881 (77.3%) were exported.

 

It is also interesting that this August was the best August for 14 years when it came to the number of new cars manufactured in the UK with 109,004 being built. Of those, 81,200 (74.5%) were exported.

The year-to-date figures to August 2016 reveal that 1,132,727 new cars were built with this being an increase of 12% when compared to the same period last year so it is quite possible that more cars will be built this year than in 2015. Of those cars, 877,523 were exported (77.5%).

As you can see, a very large % of vehicles being built in the UK are exported overseas. Below are the top 10 places that they were transported to last year: –

1. EU Countries 57.3%
2. USA 12.1%
3. China 7.1%
4. Turkey 3.2%
5. Australia 2.5%
6. Japan 2.0%
7. South Korea 1.8%
8. Canada 1.5%
9. Russia 1.1%
10. Israel 1.1%

Within the EU the top 6 countries importing cars built in the UK were Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain.

German FlagBelgium Flag

Italy FlagFrance FlagPortugal Flag

Spain Flag

 

 

 

Below are a few interesting facts about the car industry here in the UK: –

a) Demand for electric cars increased by more than 50% in 2015.
b) A new car is built every 16 seconds.
c) The UK has the second largest new car market in Europe with Germany holding the number one position.
d) The UK is the 10th largest manufacturer of new cars in the world.
e) There were 2.63 million new cars sold in the UK with 86.55 of them being imported from other countries.
f) In the region of 2.5 million car engines are built in the UK each year.

The above data was produced by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). If you are interested, you can find out even more information on their website.

Here at AIB Insurance, we pride ourselves on helping our many motoring customers obtain competitive car insurance as well as providing a first class, professional and personal service both pre and after sale. So, if you would like a quotation then why not get in touch with us on 02380 268 351.