UK car manufacturing faces long wait to return to normal levels – KPMG
While UK car manufacturing is beginning to reopen production lines after producing just 197 units in April, Andrew Burn, partner and head of Automotive at KPMG, said the road ahead is far from clear, despite the UK’s car dealerships being given the green light to open. Export markets, uncertainty about demand, and the challenge of cross-border supply chains all provide significant headwinds for the country’s car makers.
Continue Reading15 commercial vehicles manufactured in April, down -99.3%
Only 15 units ran off UK commercial vehicle (CV) production lines in April, -99.3 down year-on-year.The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) chief executive, Mike Hawes said that while unsurprising, the figures “illustrate the incredible challenge facing the UK commercial vehicle sector” as a result of the Coronavirus lockdown.
Continue ReadingUK car manufacturing down -99.7% in April
April car production was basically non-existant in the UK. The country’s output for the month was the lowest since the Second World War, down -99.7 per cent, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures. The coronavirus lockdown forced plants to close, meaning just 197 premium, luxury and sports cars left factory gates in the month. These were models that had been assembled prior to shutdowns with only finishing touches needed.
Continue ReadingGlobalData forecasts 30% drop in UK new car market 2020
Following the news that car dealerships in England can re-open from 1 June, David Leggett, automotive analyst at GlobalData urged caution that car demand will continue to be “well below normal.” The analyst currently forecasts that the UK new car market will be 30 per cent down, year on year.
Continue ReadingApril 2020 motorcycle registrations one-sixth of April 2019
According to figures from the Motorcycle Industry Association, just 1,623 new motorcycles were registered in April, down from 9,820 in the previous April. Year-to-date, the market has declined by -31.1 per cent, from 36,951 in 2019 to 25,451 in 2020 so far.
Continue ReadingAnalysts comment on April car sales figures
Analysts have commented on the “unsurprising” news that UK new car sales have plummeted to depths not seen for 70 years in April. Automotive industry observers at Deloitte and KPMG looked to the future, suggesting cautiously that the reopening of showrooms could provide opportunities for consumers, while suggesting that sales digitisation could be important for dealers.
Continue ReadingTyre demand declining 15 to 26 per cent in 2020
Things are changing so quickly at the moment that most analyses end up little more than speculation two weeks later. That’s why Tyrepress contains both the latest news and seeks to set such developments into their medium- and long-term contexts. Take our Tyre Retail coverage for example (see 2020 UK tyre retail ranking and Which garages are open during lockdown) where we list both the current proportions of open tyre retailers and analyse the overall UK tyre retail landscape in its seven-year context.
Continue ReadingAutomotive forecasts revised down as crisis deepens – GlobalData
The shutdowns and deteriorating demand in the automotive sector have caused GlobalData to revise its North American and European light vehicle (LV) production forecasts for 2020 and beyond. This is a stark illustration of how serious the COVID-19 crisis, which has caused sales to whither and shuttered manufacturing plants, is becoming for the automotive industry, says data and analytics company, GlobalData.
Continue ReadingHalfords charges into second place in the 2020 UK tyre retail ranking
At the moment it is easy to get side-tracked by all the talk of the coronavirus. But, while it is clearly an important subject, the tyre business has a century or more of pre-history, has a present and has a future. With this in mind, May’s edition of Tyres & Accessories continues in line with the last eight years of research by counting and ranking the nation’s largest tyre retail chains. The methodology is simple, we contact companies, consult publicly available sources and use third-party data where necessary in order to triangulate our tyre retail landscape. Of course, the present circumstances may look significantly different due to the nations’ current lockdown status (see Which Garages are Open During Lockdown). However, the shape of the tyre retail business before the lockdown will surely help the retail trade strategize for its ongoing future after lockdown, making this data as actionable as ever.
Continue ReadingChina’s vehicle market heading for 2020 decline – GlobalData
China’s vehicle market was down 43 per cent in March, at 1.43 million units. David Leggett, automotive editor at GlobalData, said that April “will be key to seeing how the recovery to demand is shaping up and also how robust it is.”
Continue ReadingMarch motorbike registrations show beginning of COVID-19 impact on market
13,075 new motorcycles were registered in March, down from 16,682 in March 2019. In the year-to-date, the market has shrunk by -12.2 per cent, from 10,449 in 2019 to 10,753 in 2020 so far. “Motorcycle registrations for the plate-change month of March were -21.6 per cent in decline against the previous March of 2019,” said Stephen Latham, head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA) which represents motorcycle retailers across the UK.
Continue ReadingWhich tyre garages are open during lockdown?
The word unprecedented has been used a lot recently. However, it is true to say that the UK tyre industry has never experienced a set of circumstances like this and hasn’t witnessed national action on this scale since the second world war. So, which tyre garages are open during lockdown?
Continue ReadingUK car production falls -2.1% in January
British car production fell -2.1 per cent in January 2020, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures reveal. As well as being the fifth consecutive month of decline, with 118,314 units produced, UK car production has now fallen in 19 of the last 20 months. The majority (82.7 per cent) of these cars were built for export worldwide.
Continue ReadingDecennial shift in global PCLT tyre volume market share
The latest global tyre market share figures from tyre industry analyst Astutus Research show how long-established, leading players headquartered in Japan, Europe, and North America have seen their volume share diminish, while Chinese, ASEAN, and selected other markets’ tyre manufacturers’ share has risen. The analyst states that in aggregate, the ten leading PCLT tyre manufacturers based in Japan, Europe and North America (J-E-NA) have lost almost 6 percentage points of market share since the end of 2011 (OE and replacement segments combined, volumes in tyre units). In part this reflects a strategic choice of some to focus on the higher value premium segments of the market.
Continue ReadingUK commercial vehicle production stable in October – SMMT
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reports that UK commercial vehicle (CV) production was down -0.2 per cent in October, with 9,065 units manufactured. Output destined for some crucial overseas markets was up 9.3 per cent, though production for the domestic market fell -8.5 per cent with demand weakening.
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