UK new car registrations continue to recover in November
6th December 2009
The Society of Motor Manufactuers and Traders Limited (SMMT) in the UK have
announced that new car registrations increased by 57.6% in November 2009
compared to November 2008.
The recovery in the market is being
sustained by the scrappage scheme that draws upon government subsidies to
aid buyers with trade in vehicles first registered before 29 February 2000
ie 9 years old. The scheme has aided over 250,000 registrations this year,
with 34,096 being in November. Ofcourse it is not known how many of these
vehicles would have been sold were the subsidy not existed.
The
market has grown in each of the last 5 months, although the year to date
registrations are still down on 2008 by 8.8% or 179,041 units.
The
total year to date registrations in 2009 is 1,844,063.
The Ford
Fiesta leads the popularity competition, both in November and in the year to
date totals, followed by the Ford Focus in a distant second. Vauxhall take
3rd and 4th with the Corsa and Astra and will be looking to the new Astra to
claw back some sales from Ford.
Whilst the overall market has
dropped by a large margin in 2009, there are still many success stories in
2009. Hyundai UK have registered almost twice the number of vehicles in 2009
as compared with 2008. Kia have grown registrations by over 50%. Nissan,
Fiat, smart, Suzuki and Alfa Romeo have also recorded growth in the face of
a declining market.
The SMMT are cautious about the future in saying
the outlook remains uncertain due to the scrappage scheme ending soon, the
increase in VAT (value added tax from 15% to 17.5%) in January 2010 and the
fate of the wider economy.
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