UK vehicle Sales Rise Again

New auto registrations in the United Kingdom climbed for the forty-first successive month in July, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers an Traders showed Thursday.

Unveiling a 5.8 per cent year-on-year fall in new vehicle registrations north of the Border, the Scottish Motor Trade Association (SMTA) pointed to the “volatile nature” of the monthly numbers.

The UK new auto market has seen consistent, strong growth since early 2012, with the first six months of 2015 represented an all-time record high for registrations.

It is 3.2 per cent more than in July 2014 and takes the overall number of units sold this year to 1,555,309 – an increase of 6.5 per cent on last year.

The top-selling segments so far this year have been the Supermini, Lower Medium (small family cars) and Dual objective (SUVs and crossovers).

The industry body, however, warned the slowdown in growth in July pointed to a levelling off in demand over the second half of the year.

“Volume growth in all three segments reflects a shift in buying habits over the past decade, with the supermini and dual goal segments enjoying the biggest gains”.

Demand for super-minis has grown by 22 per cent over the past decade as people downsize to smaller cars.

Demand is still at a very high level, with year-to-date van registrations up 17% as confident businesses continue to invest in their fleets and capitalise on the ongoing trend for home deliveries. We now expect sales of 2.56 million in 2015.’. According to the SMMT 178,420 cars were registered in July.

The market for dual goal vehicles, meanwhile, has seen an 88.5% leap over the past decade as manufacturers have introduced new models to cater for buyers seeking more versatility.

A look at the best-selling cars makes that clear, with the Ford Fiesta topping sales and the Nissan Qashqai taking fifth place.