UK Car Sales Through to the Other Side?

UK Car Sales Through to the Other Side?

UK car sales have reached a four-year high in the sales year of 2012 somewhat suggesting that the new car market has seen the other side of the recession. New car registrations in the U.K have rose by a figure of 5.3% in 2012 to 2.4 million vehicles which is the highest since 2008.

Both the Ford Fiesta and Focus models have seen a record year in sales within the U.K. The same to be seen with the other main US company, General Motors as their Vauxhall brand also has two models in the best selling list for 2012 in the Corsa and the Astra respectively.

The Volkswagen Golf followed in fifth place, with the Nissan Qashqai just behind. The Nissan Qashqai consistently increased sales figures month on month suggesting the rising popularity for cars in the class.

The market is expected to hold firm in 2013 and continue with similar levels of sales to that of 2012. However, as insurance premium prices and new car prices continue to increase the pockets of the consumer are sure to be squeezed. The majority of mass market manufacturers who supply to the U.K have seen sales drop dramatically around the rest of Europe due to the struggling state of the European economy.

This drop in sales have led to certain manufacturers being forced to reduce supply to coincide with the lack of demand which will result in the increase of price as the production numbers decrease.

As the majority of car manufacturers look to increase their car prices in 2013 the importance of offers and incentives have never been more highlighted than this time round. Mazda have set the trend in 2013 having increased prices and set discounts and offers during the first three months of trade to help get sales figures up.

As Mazda aim to have a strong start to the calendar year, it was the final month of 2012 in December which led to record sales for the rest of the market with 123,557 cars registered contributing to an overall increase of 3.7% more than 2011 for December.