Brake on new car sales for first time in a year
Sales of new cars slumped by 13% last month — the first decline for a year — mainly due to the ending of the scrappage incentive scheme, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said today.
Just under 136,500 new cars were registered last month, but despite the market contraction carmakers said they still expect to sell more vehicles this year than last.
Sales for the seven months to July totted up to 1.24 million, 15% higher than the same time last year.
Diesel cars were particularly popular, taking a record 50% share of the market. Alternatively-fuelled vehicle sales rose by 53%, giving them a 1.4% share.
"Subdued consumer confidence and a still fragile economic recovery make the outlook for the remainder of 2010 challenging, but a stronger-than-expected first half means 2010 volumes are still forecast to exceed 2009's total", said Paul Everitt, chief executive of the SMMT.
The three best-selling models were Vauxhall's Corsa and Astra along with Ford's Fiesta.
But the SMMT admitted that the outlook for the rest of this year and next was "difficult to predict" due to continued economic uncertainty as well as concerns about the effect of the VAT rise in January.
