Private car buyers still wait on the sidelines
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sales of new cars rose by 4.5 per cent to 145,710 in February in spite of a continued decline in sales to private buyers, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The overall increase is the first year on year improvement since September 1994, but the SMMT said that it is no guarantee of a sustained improvement in the market.
Sales to private buyers fell by 3.1 per cent in February and by almost 9 per cent in total in the first two months of the year. Small business sales showed a decline of 4.3 per cent last month while fleet sales rose by almost 14 per cent. The SMMT said that people appear still to be concerned about job security and being able to pay the mortgage, pushing new car purchases by private buyers down the agenda.
Ernie Thompson, chief executive of the SMMT, said:"The increase in registrations is encouraging but with business and fleet sales accounting for 55 per cent of the total, it is clear that private customers are still reluctant to come into the showroom."
"This upturn after a period of five months is most welcome, but it would be premature to assume that any new trend has been established," he added. The SMMT is wary of market projections since sales took their downward turn after last summer.
For the first two months of this year, overall sales of new cars were 343,515, which is down marginally on the same period of 1994. After February's improvement, the SMMT is hoping that it may be able to report an overall improvement for the first quarter. It is unclear, however, how long and to what extent the buoyancy in fleet sales can be maintained.
Imports in February increased their market share to 60.52 per cent from 57.54 in February last year. In the first two months, imports took almost 60 per cent compared with only 55.89 per cent in the same period last year.
The top five sellers were the Ford Escort and Mondeo, the Vauxhall Astra and Cavalier, and the Ford Fiesta.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments