The UK car market shrunk by 9.3% to 426,170 units last month, marking the first September in which registrations declined for six years.
Sales usually grow in September due to the registration plate change.
Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) CEO Mike Hawes said: “September is always a barometer of the health of the UK new car market, so this decline will cause considerable concern.
“Business and political uncertainty are reducing buyer confidence, with consumers and businesses more likely to delay big-ticket purchases.”
Hawes labelled “confusion over air quality plans” as one of the key reasons for a large decline in demand for diesel cars, registrations of which are down by 21.7% compared with September 2016. There was also a 1.2% decrease for petrol models, with 232,810 cars registered.
Used car market steady in second quarter of 2017
Contrastingly, registrations of alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) continued to soar, with a 41% boost in output over last year’s month. Despite the boost, however, AFVs still accounted for just 22,628 cars, or 5.3% of the market, in September.
In the face of concerns over future legislation, Hawes said: “consumers should be reassured that all the new diesel and petrol models on the market will not face any bans or additional charges.
“Manufacturers’ scrappage schemes are proving popular and such schemes are to be encouraged, given that fleet renewal is the best way to address environmental issues in our towns and cities.”
Of the manufacturers, Ford remained the biggest producer of cars, supplying 39,696, more than two thirds of which were Fiesta or Ford Focus models. Volkswagen was second, with 36,332 cars produced, of which 12,800 were Volkswagen Golfs.
The most registered model in the UK in September was the Nissan Qashqai, with 13,499 units, bringing its year-to-date total to 53,197.
But longstanding leader the Fiesta still comfortably leads the 2017 table, with 75,814 units, beating its stablemate, the Focus, which has recorded 57,256 units. The Golf remains third with 57,018 units.
A Ford spokesman told Autocar that the Fiesta's dip in September was attributed to the launch of the all-new model, of which "only two out of six trim levels are currently on sale". Ford therefore expects sales to increase when more variants are launched in the coming months.
A Nissan spokesman told Autocar that the Qashqai's success was a reflection of the SUV segment, which has remained resilient throughout 2017, as much as it was a signal for the model's strong demand.
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Far too much _ullshit about derv v petrol and electric
I have problems with the lot ,you can't make petrol in isolation as the by product in the cracking process is diesel. To manufacture lithium battery packs you need to mine cobalt and lithium which is both rare and polluting,the packs weigh up to 500kg per car.There are insufficient minerals to produce 90 odd million cars alone world production.Everone is trying to put the frightners on .In reality it probably will all even out petrol for small cars,as cheaper to make the engines,peterol larger sports cars and luxury,diesel suv and luxury mid to large engines. Electric accross the ranges will become more populaar due to subsidy and people being afraid.It will be interesting to see what solid state technology comes up with re the problems of lithium etc.Not sure if the right electric sysyems are any where near ready.
Oh final thing ,the treasury make sbillions in duty ,vat ved plus the carsvat.Eletric to date
costs moneyie grants no vat or duty ,just subsidized just like renewable enregy.This model only works when you have fewer takers being subsidized.
Ski Kid wrote:
This is probably one of the most sensible comments. I drive a large diesel Audi, it is a Euro 4 with DPF. It is as economical as the latest version and does everything I need. I would not buy a newer one as the government and councils are totally unclear as to what new taxes they will impose on diesel cars in the next few years. With the new VED rates, I shall look to buy a car nearly 5 years old, but to get a car that is a big enough step forward, I shall have to wait a bit longer. I do not want a new petrol either as I much prefer the better economy and relaxed performance of a diesel. I would consider an electric car, but only once they have a real life range of about 400 miles, and cost more or less the same as a diesel. At the moment people like me will just hold on to our older cars until things become clearer.
Consumer decides.
Or is petrol a by product of making diesel.
You missed a couple of points to make petrol/diesel you need a lot of electricity (1kwh is is the least I’ve seen 5kwh per gallon is the most so the truth is somewhere inbetween). But at the end of the day it’s consumer choice and all those people doing 8,000 miles in their diesel Fiesta’s are switching to petrol. And I don’t see many EV owners wanting to go back to petrol especially as they’re only paying 2p a mile in fuel costs.
Things will change
I do not think it uses that much electricity to manufacture derv and petrol,the base price of these things exc vat and duty and dealer margin is only about 30p.I purchased kerosene at 30p that inc dealer margin and about 6p duty ,so that is about 20p nothing realy.I would guess that there is a mere fraction of a kilowatt of electricity per litre perhaps costing 1p per litre. I can't see it being 1 kw per gallon as that would be about 1.5p litre just for electricty at wholesale prices,but who knows.
Once more than say 25% of vehivles are using ev type vehilces the cost tho the treasury would be untenable and the few could no longer be subsidized ,just look at the £20 and £30 road fund now £140 and £360 more if costing more than £40k.
Ultimately the cost of ev is being hidden,grants paid via derv petrol users and no duty and 20% vat paid on the electicity used .The cost and resulting pollution of bastteries and scraping good vehicles needs to be addressed.
xxxx wrote:
Here you go again, spouting your bullshit about running electric cars for pennies. It's a blatant fucking lie, and if you have any modicum of sense (dubious, after much of what you've written here), you know it. If electric cars did catch on (they won't), and a large proportion of people were using them, the cost of a charge would be raised to a level the same as a tank of petrol, because no government is going to lose that much tax. With a cost advantage it is immensely unlikely that people would be prepared to give up the freedom and flexibility of petrol cars, without it there is not a cat in hell's chance of the mass of people turning to plugging in cars to the elctric mains.
And before you start bleating about Norway again, that's all bollocks too, because Norway has a population of about five and a quarter million, in a land area of a hundred and forty-one thousand square miles, for a density of thirty-eight people per square mile. The UK has a population of roughly sixty-six and a quarter million people, in ninety-three thousand square miles, giving a density of seven hundred and nine people per square mile.
Even if your Norway theory did not have other flaws, which it does, as another poster recently explained to you, there still would be no sensible fucking comparison to be made between the situations in the two countries.
You are deluded, and electric cars are going nowhere.
VAT at 20%, showroom tax, VED
VAT at 20%, showroom tax, VED messed up by Osborne. No clear advice on what measures local aurhorities are to take on current diesels. Hardly surprising car buyers are staying away. They have BS fatigue.
SMMT CEO says "consumers
SMMT CEO says "consumers should be reassured that all the new diesel and petrol models on the market will not face any bans or additional charges". I think that's called making yourself a hostage to fortune; presumably he ran it past his lawyers so probably not suable in the event he's proven wrong.