2012 UK Auto Sales Hit Four-Year High
Last year new car registrations in the UK increased 5.3% to 2.04 million, reaching the highest level since 2008.
According to the SMMT car industry body, the four best-selling models were Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Corsa and Astra. The 5th spot was taken by VW Golf and on the 6th place came Nissan Qashqai.
“Looking ahead to 2013, we anticipate the market will hold firm,” said the chief executive of the SMMT, Paul Everitt.
Still, some are not so optimistic, with Richard Lowe, head of retail wholesale at Barclays, saying that when it comes to 2013 ‘the real question is whether demand will hold.’ He also added that 2013 will be a year when customers’ pockets will continue to be closed, and automakers and dealers will have to be careful to match supply with demand.
The growth rate in 2012 was the fastest in the past 11 years, thanks to a 12.9% increase in demand coming from private individuals who purchased almost 929,000 units of the total of 2,044,609 vehicles sold in the UK. Last month 123,557 vehicles were sold, an increase of 3.7% over the same period in 2011.
“December’s figures wrapped up a positive year for the industry, which saw consumer demand driving sales,” said Mr Lowe.
December 2012 (full year) new car registrations data
| December | Total | Diesel | Petrol | AFV | Private | Fleet | Business |
| 2012 | 123,557 | 63,347 | 58,562 | 1,648 | 50,980 | 66,960 | 5,617 |
| 2011 | 119,188 | 60,570 | 56,763 | 1,855 | 45,300 | 67,161 | 6,727 |
| % change | 3.7% | 4.6% | 3.2% | -11.2% | 12.5% | -0.3% | -16.5% |
| Mkt share ’12 | 51.3% | 47.4% | 1.3% | 41.3% | 54.2% | 4.5% | |
| Mkt share ’11 | 50.8% | 47.6% | 1.6% | 38.0% | 56.3% | 5.6% | |
| Year-to-date | Total | Diesel | Petrol | AFV | Private | Fleet | Business |
| 2012 | 2,044,609 | 1,038,679 | 978,089 | 27,841 | 929,440 | 1,025,501 | 89,668 |
| 2011 | 1,941,253 | 981,594 | 934,203 | 25,456 | 823,094 | 1,019,126 | 99,033 |
| % change | 5.3% | 5.8% | 4.7% | 9.4% | 12.9% | 0.6% | -9.5% |
| Mkt share ’12 | 50.8% | 47.8% | 1.4% | 45.5% | 50.2% | 4.4% | |
| Mkt share ’11 | 50.6% | 48.1% | 1.3% | 42.4% | 52.5% | 5.1% |
December 2012 and full year best sellers
| Best sellers | December | Year-to-date | |||||||||||
| 1 | Focus | 5,265 | 1 | Fiesta | 109,265 | ||||||||
| 2 | Astra | 5,112 | 2 | Corsa | 89,434 | ||||||||
| 3 | Fiesta | 4,977 | 3 | Focus | 83,115 | ||||||||
| 4 | Corsa | 4,510 | 4 | Astra | 63,023 | ||||||||
| 5 | 1 Series | 3,196 | 5 | Golf | 62,021 | ||||||||
| 6 | 3 Series | 3,181 | 6 | Qashqai | 45,675 | ||||||||
| 7 | MINI | 3,143 | 7 | 3 Series | 44,521 | ||||||||
| 8 | Qashqai | 2,840 | 8 | Polo | 41,901 | ||||||||
| 9 | Golf | 2,556 | 9 | C-Class | 37,261 | ||||||||
| 10 | Polo | 2,500 | 10 | 1 Series | 34,488 | ||||||||
by Ana Cezara Savin (my Google+) - Monday, January 7th, 2013 - filed under News, Other, Sales Reports. Image credit: .
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