Edited Press Release
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The Society of Motor manufacturers and Traders, or SMMT, said Thursday that new car registrations fell 30.9% in January to 112,087 units, and warned that the market is expected to decline by a fifth in 2009 to 1.72 million units.
However, the diesel market share rose 0.7 percentage points to 45.6%, the second highest rate ever, SMMT.
The Industry continues to call on government to help stimulate demand, it said.
Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said that there is a clear need to stimulate demand for new vehicles in the U.K. market.
"A number of E.U. member states have launched scrappage incentive schemes, which have the benefit of boosting consumer confidence and delivering significant environmental improvements", Everitt said.
"The U.K. motor industry is urging U.K. government to introduce a similar scheme and help sustain jobs and businesses throughout the sector."
The market is expected to decline by 19.3% in 2009 to 1.72 million units. This would be some 410,000 units off the 2008 total and almost 685,000 units down on 2007, the SMMT said.
The temporary VAT cut in December is one measure to help the market recover, but the impact is equivalent to a 2.1% cut in prices. Manufacturers continue to offer finance and deals, but are seeking further government support to kick-start demand.
All sales types fell in January, although the fall in the private sector was less steep - perhaps reflective of the VAT cuts but more likely that the private sector had already begun to decline in January 2008.
In January diesel penetration rose to match its second highest level ever, but diesel volumes still fell by 29.7%. Alternatively fuelled vehicle (AFV) demand showed a particularly sharp decline, down 47.4%, in part reflecting strong growth in 2008, the SMMT said.
All segments showed falling volumes in January, except the mini segment - which was up 40.8%. Supermini demand slowed less steeply than in other segments to post a market share up almost five percentage points to 35.6%.
The new Ford Fiesta was the top selling model for a third successive month in January, the SMMT said.
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Publié le 05 Février 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones