Thursday, June 12, 2008
Used car sales stable in first quarter
Sector is robust despite growing economic pressure
Used car transactions only saw a marginal year-on-year fall during the first quarter of the year as the sector adjusted to the impact of economic pressures on buyers.
According to the SMMT, Q1 transactions, either through retailers or private sellers, slipped 1.1 per cent from 1.91 million to 1.89 million units – a shortfall of 21,408 units.
“This represents a highly respectable performance. We should not ignore the pressures of rapidly rising fuel costs although sales across all segments have broadly been stable,” said Mark Standish, chief executive of Carlyle Finance.
The SMMT figures, produced exclusively in this week’s Motor Trader, show a market oscillating on a monthly basis. While January was around 16,000 units down, February was up by 30,000, followed by a 35,000 shortfall in March.
The March slump could be the key indicator here as this is traditionally the strongest used sales month of the year with buyers trading-in cars for brand new models. This year’s March sales totalled 654,502, compared with 690,000 in 2007 and a recent high of 710,000 in 2004.
The April figures, when they are published later in the year, are likely to hint at which way the sector is going.
DATED: 12.06.08
FEED: MT
Used car transactions only saw a marginal year-on-year fall during the first quarter of the year as the sector adjusted to the impact of economic pressures on buyers.
According to the SMMT, Q1 transactions, either through retailers or private sellers, slipped 1.1 per cent from 1.91 million to 1.89 million units – a shortfall of 21,408 units.
“This represents a highly respectable performance. We should not ignore the pressures of rapidly rising fuel costs although sales across all segments have broadly been stable,” said Mark Standish, chief executive of Carlyle Finance.
The SMMT figures, produced exclusively in this week’s Motor Trader, show a market oscillating on a monthly basis. While January was around 16,000 units down, February was up by 30,000, followed by a 35,000 shortfall in March.
The March slump could be the key indicator here as this is traditionally the strongest used sales month of the year with buyers trading-in cars for brand new models. This year’s March sales totalled 654,502, compared with 690,000 in 2007 and a recent high of 710,000 in 2004.
The April figures, when they are published later in the year, are likely to hint at which way the sector is going.
DATED: 12.06.08
FEED: MT
