January 2009 new car sales figures

Warning: preg_match(): Compilation failed: invalid range in character class at offset 4 in /home/ronayne8/public_html/motor-trade-insider.com/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 1384

Warning: preg_match_all(): Compilation failed: invalid range in character class at offset 4 in /home/ronayne8/public_html/motor-trade-insider.com/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 700

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/ronayne8/public_html/motor-trade-insider.com/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 707

Warning: preg_match_all(): Compilation failed: invalid range in character class at offset 4 in /home/ronayne8/public_html/motor-trade-insider.com/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 700

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/ronayne8/public_html/motor-trade-insider.com/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 707

The figures are in for January 2009 new car sales and, as widely predicted, are drastically down on January last year. It’s pretty much as everyone expected and the new car sector is obviously really suffering. Expect some new and interesting initiatives over the coming months to get stock moving – car scappage schemes are the most likely with Germany in particular showing signs of this type of imitative being successful.

From SMMT:
* New car registrations fell 30.9% in January to 112,087 units

* Diesel market share rose 0.7 percentage points to 45.6% – second highest rate ever

* Market expected to decline by a fifth in 2009 to 1.72 million units

* Industry continues to call on government to help stimulate demand

“There is a clear need to stimulate demand for new vehicles in the UK market. A number of EU member states have launched scrappage incentive schemes, which have the benefit of boosting consumer confidence and delivering significant environmental improvements,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “The UK motor industry is urging UK government to introduce a similar scheme and help sustain jobs and businesses throughout the sector.”

Download report here

Car sector contracts in January – BBC News