UK New Car Sales

Recent new car sales figures in the UK show that the market is still in buoyant mood and car sales are still on the increase. Despite the recession the UK car industry has maintained an eight-quarter rise in the number of cars sold.

 Experts however predict that this is likely to see a change soon as Governments throughout Europe, including the UK, end their used car scrappage schemes and expect to see the resultant dip in the market. Ingvar Sviggum, Ford’s Head of European Sales informed investors that they were suffering the effects of the downturn already.

Sviggum said that while the scrapping scheme had helped the automotive industry get through the worst recession of recent times, its ending signalled tricky times ahead. He also said that Fords reluctance to heavily discount unlike some of its competitors was a contributing factor to the 3.9% slip in sales. Some competitors were slashing prices by between 30% – 50% but that Ford were going to maintain their pricing structure and not compromise on the quality of the cars.

 The automotive group SMMT also echoed this sentiment saying that sales were set to drop later in 2010. Paul Everitt, SMMT SEO said “the industry still expects challenging economic conditions in the second half of the year and government action to improve access to credit for customers and business will be important in sustaining the momentum of recovery.”

Despite Ford’s dire warnings, their subcompact Ford Fiesta was the best-selling car across Europe for the first quarter of 2010, ahead of Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra cars.