New car sales rise for first time in 15 months

Scrappage registrations lifted new car sales 2.4pc last month, the first rise for 15 months in Britain. Private sales soared over a third to 77,911 cars in July to take nearly half the monthly registrations of 157,149 cars, but market is still down almost 550,000 units over the last 12 months. Scrappage figures from the SMMT show that Hyundai dealers did more sales from these than market leader Ford in July, 4379 compared to 3796, but the non-scrappage business still kept Ford at the top of the market share overall. SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said, “Industry still faces a long road to recovery and we urge government to take action to sustain economic recovery through easing access to finance and credit and delivering the loan guarantees set out by the Automotive Assistance Programme.” The increased level of private sales shows up in the mix of models in the top ten.
Top ten new cars in July		The success of the vehicle scrappage scheme has continued into July, according to figures released by the SMMT. In July, 21.0PC of the total 157,149 new car registrations were as a result of the scrappage incentive scheme, giving a much-needed boost to the UK motor industry. In the commercial vehicle sector, 499 vans were registered under the scheme, accounting for 1.5PC of the total scrappage registrations and 3.6PC of overall van registrations in July. “The scrappage scheme has contributed to the first increase in new car registrations since April last year,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “Smaller, lower-CO2 emitting cars are taking the lion’s share of registrations which will have a positive impact in reducing emissions as well as boosting the UK motor industry.” ● German investigators are probing reports of fraud concerning cars put in for scrappage under the country’s registrations scheme and which were possibly never destroyed but exported.
1 Fiesta	8976
2 Ford Focus	7934
3 Vauxhall Corsa	5920
4 Vauxhall Astra	5705
5 VW Golf	4101
6 Peugeot 207	3957
7 Vauxhall Insignia	3340
8 BMW 3 Series	3292
9 Hyundai i10	3084
10 Renault Clio	2837

It was a very different picture for commercial vehicle business in July.

"July saw both van and truck registrations fall some 40PC on July 08 as firms continue to avoid buying new vehicles," said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive.

"But with truck makers and their dealers holding some stocks and sterling still weak against the pound there has seldom been a better time to do a good deal, es
“pecially with the 59 plate due in September.

"Truck prices are bound to rise, probably quite sharply and quite soon, particularly for new-build models. We don't expect any truck registration rise until those 59 plate trucks go to work."