Record Year for UK new car registrations in 2015

Registrations for new cars in 2015 have exceeded 2.6 million units for the first time.

The new car market has sealed four years of consecutive growth, with a total of 2.63 million vehicles registered after a 6.3% rise in demand, exceeding expectations.

The market has seen an increase every month bar one, for the last 46 months, with December seeing 180,077 new cars registered.

Overall, the market rose 6.3% in 2015 to 2,633,503 units – exceeding forecast and outperforming the last record year in 2003 when 2,579,050 new cars left the UK’s showrooms. This marks the fourth time that the market has topped 2.5 million in a full year.

Stronger consumer confidence, special deals and cheap finance have pushed up the figures. Low interest rates and the strengthening of Sterling against the Euro has made importing cars from countries such as Germany and France more affordable.

For the seventh year running, the Ford Fiesta was the bestselling car, with 85% of Ford showrooms offering finance plans known as PCP’s. This popular option is credited for boosting vehicle sales.

Gains were reported across all fuel types, with petrol and diesel registrations up 8.4% and 3% respectively with equal market shares. Alternatively fuelled vehicle (AFV) demand, meanwhile, grew 40.3%, securing the biggest ever market share of 2.8% for a year. Plug-in hybrids experienced phenomenal growth, with volumes more than doubling, while pure electric vehicles saw an uplift of around 50%.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said “Buyers took advantage of attractive finance deals and low inflation to secure some of the most innovative, high tech and fuel efficient vehicles ever produced. The past four years have seen a remarkable period of sustained growth, and the outlook remains positive with every reason to expect the market to hold broadly steady in 2016.”

The UK’s fleet sector also saw growth, boosting demand by 11.8%, reaching an all-time high of 1.3 million units. The private sector was also up by 2.5%.

 

 

The post Record Year for UK new car registrations in 2015 appeared first on UK Construction Online.