New UK car sales figures were released yesterday which didn’t make for good reading. July 2010 saw the first fall in new car sales for 12 months. This is mainly because the scrappage scheme fuelled new car sales from the summer of 2009 until March 2010. The drop in sales was expected at some point of the year so to many people in the industry it has not come as a big shock that sales have fallen. The best selling models last month were the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Astra and the Vauxhall Corsa. Like many car manufacturers Vauxhall has struggled over the past few years to maintain the number of sales it achieved before the economic crisis struck. Vauxhall must be doing something right though as the Vauxhall Astra and Corsa both were in the top three best selling car models. In the last decade Ford has usually achieved the highest number of registered vehicles but it might be that Vauxhall is catching up with the American car giant.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) last month a total of 13,446 new cars were registered in the UK which is a drop of 13.2% compared to July 2009. Although consumer confidence is low and the economy is still in a fragile state according to the SMMT the number of registered year end sales is expected to reach 2.02 million which would be a 1.2% rise on the 2009 total. This is because of the higher than expected new registrations in the first half of the year. It is likely that sales will reduce over the coming months but as the new 60 plate cars are set to be released next month this might increase the number of cars sold for a short period of time.
Car manufacturers have tried to maintain the buzz that the scrappage scheme created in the second half of 2009. Many car manufacturers have created similar schemes that the government was running which is widely known as the “swappage scheme”. Not all car manufacturers have used this approach though. For example Ford is not currently running a swappage scheme. Instead Ford has introduced Blue Tag pricing which basically is where Ford has reduced its list prices for the Ford Mondeo, Ford S-Max and Ford Galaxy by up to £3,500. The scrappage scheme saw a rise in list prices across most of the major car manufacturers so reductions in list prices would certainly be welcomed. Car manufacturers like Vauxhall are currently using the swappage scheme to drive sales. As the sales figures of new cars show Vauxhall and Ford are both in the top 3 selling car models it must mean these car giants are doing something right. The models produced by Ford and Vauxhall are similar such as the Vauxhall Astra and Ford Focus in terms of the engine size, colours available, interior space and most importantly price. Ford though offers a wider range of different models and derivatives but Vauxhall have sportier derivatives than Ford. The car industry will have to wait and see what happens in the second half of 2010.
