- 72,163 new cars registered in August, a 9.4% rise on August 2013 and the 30th consecutive month of growth.
- Year-to-date registrations pass 1.5 million units – up 10.1% – with some levelling off expected in coming months.
- Private and fleet registrations both displayed similar increases in the month, with the former making the greater gains in the year-to-date.
- August is one of the year’s quietest months for new car registrations, typically accounting for around 3% of the annual market. In comparison, September usually makes up around 18% of the year’s registrations.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “New car registrations reached two-and-a-half years of consecutive monthly growth in August, as confident private and fleet consumers continued to snap up enticing deals on a wealth of advanced new products.
“The UK’s performance in the context of Europe is particularly impressive, with growth consistently ahead of the rest of the EU for the past two years. As the UK market starts to find its natural level, we expect to see the growth level off during coming months.”
UK new car registrations, 2007 to-date (rolling years) and pre-recession average
Driving growth: private vs. fleet/business over the past 30 months
- August saw the current record period of growth in the UK new car market extend to a 30th consecutive month – a trend that stretches back to March 2012.
- Increasing consumer confidence has been evident across the market, with strong growth in private, fleet and business sectors. However, the greatest surge has been in private registrations, which have grown from around 840,000 units in the year before March 2012 to 1.15 million cars in the past 12 months.
- Attractive finance deals are a significant factor behind the growth in private demand, with consumers able to take advantage of Personal Contract Purchase offers (PCPs).
- Against a backdrop of improving economic conditions, the number of UK citizens in employment increased by over one million between Q1 2012 and Q1 2014 – giving individual buyers greater confidence to commit to a new car.
Click through to download the full August 2014 new car registrations news release and data table.
