The car industry reported that new car registrations fell 4.4 per cent in 2011, with new car demand totalling 1,941,253 units in 2011. That said the total was ahead of the 1.92 million forecast. The SMMT, which collates national registration statistics projected that 2012 will be “broadly flat.” Nevertheless a firmer recovery expected in 2013.
Demand for new cars declined in most European markets during April, with new registrations down 4.1 per cent year-on-year. The UK market drop was even more pronounced, with 7.4 per cent fewer registrations than in April 2010; France suffered an 11.1 per cent year-on-year decline while 23.3 per cent fewer cars were registered in Spain. The only major market to buck this downward trend was Germany, where 2.6 per cent more new registrations were reported in April 2011. In all, 1,089,118 new passenger cars were registered in the EU (including Romania and Bulgaria; data for Malta and Cyprus is currently not available); around one eighth of these were registered in the UK, which recorded a total of 137,746 new vehicles for the month.
April’s total van and truck registrations were up 24.1 per cent to 21,578, meaning the rolling year total is up 24.3 per cent to 280,775. The latest SMMT figures also show that April’s truck total was up 40.1 per cent to 3,497 (rolling year up 17.5 per cent to 37,544), while the van breakdown was up 21.4 per cent to 18,081 (rolling year up 25.5 per cent to 243,231).
The April UK new car market fell by 7.4 per cent to 137,746 units, according to the latest figures issued by the SMMT. However, the market was 1.5 per cent ahead of forecast and said to be “on par with the 2010 market” if take the scrappage volumes out of consideration. Year-to-date, registrations over the first four months of 2011 were down 8.5 per cent to 696,082 units, leaving the SMMT’s full-year forecast unchanged at 1.93 million units.
Despite the tough market conditions, fleet demand reportedly remains robust, up 6.5 per cent in April, while diesel volumes also recorded strong growth. Diesel cars represented 52.7 per cent of the total market in April and have shown year-on-year growth in every month of 2011. The VW Golf was the best selling diesel in April. Alternatively fuelled car registrations rose by 48.1 per cent in April.
While new car registrations dipped in February 2011 compared with February 2010, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said the returns represented less of a drop than had been expected, given that the previous year had been boosted by the government’s Scrappage Incentive Scheme. The first two months of 2011 have seen 192,235 units registered, down 10.2 per cent. While the decline in registrations was the eighth straight month in negative figures, the 7.7 per cent drop represented the smallest drop in this time period. This was thanks mainly to fleet demand, which grew 8.6 per cent. The executive, luxury saloon, sports car and MPV segments continued to show “double-digit growth”; diesel cars took more than 50 per cent of the market.
Registrations of new passenger cars throughout the EU27 region of Western and Eastern Europe decreased 5.5 per cent year-on-year during 2010, with a total of 13,360,599 new units registered throughout the year. In releasing the year’s registration statistics, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association commented the depressed 2010 results were “marked by the ending of government fleet renewal schemes in many EU countries.” Registrations in December amounted to 1,009,638 units, 3.2 per cent less than a year earlier.
The UK car market reported full-year growth at the end of 2010, but with registrations down nearly a fifth in the last weeks of the year analysts are predicting a 5 per cent decline in 2011. The latest UK automotive registration figures issued by the SMTT show that the market grew by 35,847 units to 2,030,846 units in 2010 ending 1.8 per cent up on 2009 figures. However, with registrations falling 18 per cent in December (123,817 units for the month), the SMMT predicts registrations will decline 5 per cent in 2011 to 1.93 million units due to continuing tough market conditions. Put into long-term context, 2010’s registration figure is the second lowest in the past decade and almost 375,000 units short of the 2007 levels.
While the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders suggests the 2010 new passenger car market will be 1.5 per cent up on 2009 figures at the end of the year, October saw a “significant fall in… new car registrations,” says Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. Registrations fell 22.2 per cent to 131,495 in year-on-year comparisons, though this figure is in line with October 2009 if one discounts the Scrappage Incentive Scheme volumes. The impact of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme would therefore seem to have had no effect but to prop up the 2009 market temporarily, while the sluggish recovery of demand in 2010 could partially be the effect of consumers bringing new car purchases forward to take advantage of the scheme. Everitt also said “some deterioration in consumer confidence” was responsible.
UK new car registrations rose 13.5 per cent in May (compared with May 2009), the 11th successive monthly rise. 153,095 cars were registered in May compared with 134,858 in May 2009. Broken down by the two main channels, the results are particularly positive in the fleet sector, which reported a 16 per cent increase compared with a 12.3 per cent in the private market.
Volumes over the first five months of the year have risen 22 per cent. According to the SMMT, the growth reflects the weakness of the 2009 market, with May volumes still 14.6 per cent or 26,177 units down on the 2008 level.
New passenger car registrations in Europe (EU27 lands) fell by 7.4 per cent year-on-year in April. This drop in comparison with April 2009 figures is not unexpected when it is remembered that registrations began to rise a year earlier in response to short-term scrappage schemes introduced in a number of countries. Over the first four months of 2010 the market expanded by 4.8 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, while shrinking by 11.6 per cent in comparison to January-April 2008.
Department for Transport figures published on 6 May suggest that the growth in first-time UK vehicle registrations continued to grow in March 2010, with a 23.1 per cent year-on-year rise in vehicles registered in the month. 455.5 thousand vehicles of all types were registered in March 2010, compared with 370.1 thousand in March 2009. While this represents a palpable rise in line with year-on-year figures over the last six months, sales are still down on pre-recession figures; 535.6 thousand vehicles were registered in March 2008.
In March, new passenger car registrations in the EU (excluding Cyprus and Malta) were 10.8 per cent higher than in the same month of 2009, according to ACEA figures. Over the first quarter of 2010 registrations rose by 9.2 per cent compared to the first three months of last year, yet were still 9.4 per cent lower than in the initial quarter of 2008. Most major European markets recovered ground in comparison with early 2009, reflecting the ongoing effect of government incentive programmes. The UK, for example, accounted for almost 400,000 new cars, or 26.6 per cent more than in 2009 – thereby becoming the largest EU market during the month. In contrast, Germany – which in 2009 had successfully boosted registrations through its own scrappage scheme – saw registrations in this post scheme month shrink 26.6 per cent to 294,375 units.
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures state that by 31 March, 372,401 new cars had been registered through the scrappage scheme, accounting for 12.2 per cent of all new car registrations in March. In addition, the scheme accounted for 3.2 per cent of the total van market in March, with 6,577 new LCVs registered through the scheme since it began in May 2009.
The last chapter in the extremely well documented scrappage scheme draws to an end today with car manufacturers calling last orders on Tuesday 30 March and the government releasing figures relating to the effects of scheme. Apparently the scheme, which offered around £2000 to motorists in exchange for them trading their car in for a new one, has helped some 400,000 customers to buy a new motor since it began.
The latest figures show that scrappage contributed to approximately one fifth of all new car registrations since the scheme started. Half (54%) of scrappage buyers surveyed had never bought a new car before and more than half (56%) of those surveyed said they would not have bought any vehicle at this time if the scrappage scheme had not been introduced.
Hanover-based Delticom AG has released preliminary 2009 financial results that show group revenue totalled 310 million euros, compared with 259 million euros in 2008. The growth realised (+20 per cent) was twice as strong as expected. Last year, 800,000 customers purchased tyres for the first time in one of the company's number of online shops, which includes mytyres.co.uk in the UK.
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