Motoring Discussion > January new car sales down 40% Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Falkirk Bairn Replies: 14

 January new car sales down 40% - Falkirk Bairn
Looks like a cold draught in the new year blew through new car showrooms all over the UK

No brand increased sales as against Jan 2020 except Smart 84 this year 25 last

Some brands down 70% like Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Honda
Vauxhall down 40% Ford down 47%
BMW Audi down low 30% s


Has Britain woken up to the huge price increases in the last few years and decided not to buy?
or
Is it all down to Covid?

New Regs only 25 days away - might give a boost to the empty showrooms


 January new car sales down 40% - Lygonos
BEV and PHEVs up nicely - each now ~7% of total sales (up from ~3% 12 months ago)

tinyurl.com/yff5maja

*MHEV I would lump into petrol and diesel as they are effectively slightly more efficient ICE cars.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Thu 4 Feb 21 at 11:50
 January new car sales down 40% - zippy
I wonder if the lower BMW and Audi sales are due to company car sales / personal leases which tend to favour that type of car?

Unfortunately I don't see any real discounting of cars which would tempt me to buy.

There was an offer on a 1 month old run out model Suzuki SX4 pre-reg with 10miles on the clock for £12k and I was thinking about it as a replacement for Mrs Z's Note but it was a bait and switch.
 January new car sales down 40% - Duncan
>> ........ it was a bait and switch.
>>

What's that?

The old, "Oh, we've just sold that car sir, but we have a very similar model at only slightly more money" trick.
 January new car sales down 40% - zippy
>>
>> The old, "Oh, we've just sold that car sir, but we have a very similar
>> model at only slightly more money" trick.
>>

Except the offered model was £17k. Similar to the price of a new one.

The ad was up for a few weeks and I made a couple of enquiries to make sure.

Oddly, they have a different SX4 for sale with the same reg number in a different colour - not sure how the mechanics of that work- cancel the first registration perhaps?

I checked the first one on the DVLA site and it was described correctly as is this one.
Last edited by: zippy on Thu 4 Feb 21 at 12:54
 January new car sales down 40% - Bill Payer
Honda has seemed like a disaster for a few years - and apparently they're even less popular in the rest of Europe than they are here. I can see them pulling out of Europe.
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Thu 4 Feb 21 at 13:22
 January new car sales down 40% - Falkirk Bairn
1995 - Honda = broad range well made & reliable motors - hatchbacks, saloons, coupes, estates, sports cars, people carriers ..................

Today - hatchback Jazz, hatchback Civic, CRV, NSX

Cheapest Jazz around £20K, Honda E £27K, Marmite Civic, CRVs can be over £40K list and NSX sells in penny numbers.

Contrast Hyundai/Kia - wide range of models, 5/7 years warranty ............. lots of Honda buyers have moved their allegiances.
 January new car sales down 40% - PeterS
Disruption in supply chains and factory closures must have reduced supply as I well I’d have thought, and certainly hire car fleets will be much much smaller than they would have been a couple of years ago. But, there still seem to be plenty of 20 and 70 plate cars about down here so who knows. As with many things, the impact of CoVID will continue to disproportionately affect the less well off, and I wonder whether they’d have been buying new cars anyway?

Though if any one is in the market, ‘my’ local MINI dealer has offered over £4K off a new Clubman...but given they now list at £36k a cost to change of well into 5 figures to end up with pretty much the same car, but with 15,000 miles fewer on the clock, didn’t strike me as a great deal ;)
 January new car sales down 40% - Robin O'Reliant
I think uncertainty about how long the Covid crisis will last and whether the economic impact will hit them personally is what's driving new buyers away. For most buyers a new car is just a toy - they will already have an excellent 2 -3 year old car sitting on the drive and often with not many miles on the clock. A very expensive feel good purchase is not a very wise way to spend your money if the road ahead is uncertain.
 January new car sales down 40% - Duncan
>> Though if any one is in the market, ‘my’ local MINI dealer has offered over
>> £4K off a new Clubman...but given they now list at £36k a cost to change
>> of well into 5 figures to end up with pretty much the same car, but
>> with 15,000 miles fewer on the clock, didn’t strike me as a great deal ;)
>>

From £20,000 according to Autotrader. What have I missed out?

tinyurl.com/yfcrc53q
 January new car sales down 40% - PeterS
Ah yes, but once you chose Cooper S, auto box, exclusive trim and most of the options the price rockets somewhat. The list price is for the new equivalent of what I’ve got - it’s gone up about £2k in two and a half years. The discount is £500 less however... ;)

Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 5 Feb 21 at 02:57
 January new car sales down 40% - Zero

>> Has Britain woken up to the huge price increases in the last few years and
>> decided not to buy?
>> or
>> Is it all down to Covid?

Its the perfect storm. Covid, Brexit, and the do I buy existing technology or wait for EVs dilema.
 January new car sales down 40% - Lygonos
I suspect Porsche might cannibalise a bunch of their higher-margin Taycans:

www.topgear.com/car-reviews/porsche/taycan/350kw-93kwh-4dr-rwd-auto/first-drive
 February new car sales down 36% - Lygonos

Trend ongoing - 62% petrol, 19% diesel, 13% EV/PHEV, 6% Hybrid

www.speakev.com/attachments/february-fuel-2021-and-ytd-cars-png.141539/
 February new car sales down 36% - Lygonos
Three months later and YTD figures: 60% petrol, 18% diesel, 14% EV/PHEV, 8% Hybrid



www.speakev.com/attachments/may-fuel-2021-and-ytd-cars-png.145470/
Last edited by: Lygonos on Sat 5 Jun 21 at 13:10
Latest Forum Posts