- New car registrations grew 0.1% in August to 59,433 units.
- The market has increased 3.3% to 1,260,997 units from January-August, up more than 40,000 units on 2011.
- Accounting for around 3% of the total market, August represents a small volume month ahead of the September plate change that typically accounts for around 17% of the year’s total.
- Demand for small and dual purpose cars continues to grow strongly.
“New car registrations remained broadly stable in August, up 0.1% on a year ago to 59,433 units. August traditionally represents a small share of the new car market as motorists anticipate the arrival of the new 62-plate in September,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. “The economic outlook remains challenging, but vehicle manufacturers and dealers are working hard to sustain demand and deliver great value products and services to customers.”
August 2012 new car registrations data
| August | Total | Diesel | Petrol | AFV | Private | Fleet | Business |
| 2012 | 59,433 | 29,391 | 29,387 | 655 | 27,562 | 30,156 | 1,715 |
| 2011 | 59,346 | 30,478 | 28,260 | 608 | 24,572 | 32,975 | 1,799 |
| % change | 0.1% | -3.6% | 4.0% | 7.7% | 12.2% | -8.5% | -4.7% |
| Mkt share ’12 | 49.5% | 49.4% | 1.1% | 46.4% | 50.7% | 2.9% | |
| Mkt share ’11 | 51.4% | 47.6% | 1.0% | 41.4% | 55.6% | 3.0% | |
| Year-to-date | Total | Diesel | Petrol | AFV | Private | Fleet | Business |
| 2012 | 1,260,997 | 643,133 | 600,504 | 17,360 | 567,772 | 641,608 | 51,617 |
| 2011 | 1,220,618 | 613,928 | 591,631 | 15,059 | 513,346 | 646,294 | 60,978 |
| % change | 3.3% | 4.8% | 1.5% | 15.3% | 10.6% | -0.7% | -15.4% |
| Mkt share ’12 | 51.0% | 47.6% | 1.4% | 45.0% | 50.9% | 4.1% | |
| Mkt share ’11 | 50.3% | 48.5% | 1.2% | 42.1% | 52.9% | 5.0% |
August 2012 and YTD best sellers
| Best sellers | August | Year-to-date | |||||||||||
| 1 | Fiesta | 2,993 | 1 | Fiesta | 70,096 | ||||||||
| 2 | Corsa | 2,430 | 2 | Corsa | 55,386 | ||||||||
| 3 | Focus | 2,089 | 3 | Focus | 50,684 | ||||||||
| 4 | Golf | 1,933 | 4 | Golf | 40,872 | ||||||||
| 5 | Astra | 1,567 | 5 | Astra | 37,261 | ||||||||
| 6 | Polo | 1,484 | 6 | Qashqai | 28,394 | ||||||||
| 7 | A3 | 1,243 | 7 | Polo | 26,696 | ||||||||
| 8 | Qashqai | 1,238 | 8 | 3 Series | 26,614 | ||||||||
| 9 | Zafira | 1,164 | 9 | C-Class | 21,824 | ||||||||
| 10 | 1 Series | 1,136 | 10 | Insignia | 21,148 | ||||||||
New car market remains firm, ahead of plate change in September and is on track to reach 1.97 million forecast
- The 0.1% rise in the new car market in August was down on the pace of recent monthly gains, but is broadly on par with expectations. August registrations mark the sixth successive month of growth and the seventh rise in the first eight months of this year.
- August is typically a small volume month, and it will account for 3.1% of the 2012 market if SMMT’s 1.97 million unit full year forecast is realised.
- The new ’62’-plate is forecast to see more than 330,000 registrations in September, in line with the 2011 outturn. September accounts for 17% of the annual total and is traditionally the second largest volume month after March.
- The January-August market is up 3.3% at 1.26 million units. August accounted for less than 5% of this total.
- Registrations of UK-built cars increased by 9.4% in August and 11.9% over the year-to-date.
- Over the year-to-date growth was evident across all fuel types, notably alternatively-fuelled vehicles (AFV) on a percentage basis – up 15.3%, and diesels on a volume basis – up 29,205 units.
- New models boosted the AFV sector and the Mini (up 35.4%) and Dual Purpose (up 19.7%) segments during the first eight months of the year, while the Supermini segment showed the largest volume gain, up 21,365 units.
- The Ford Fiesta was the best-selling model in August and over the year-to-date.
Click through to download the full August 2012 new car registrations news release and data table.
