Manufacturers and dealers roll up their sleeves for a tough year ahead

There is a lot of positive sentiment at present amid the usual new year pessimism and the motor trade in general is hoping that market leading finance packages will provide the springboard to success in 2010.

With the scrappage scheme nearly at an end and the other well documented issues set to push up new car prices, you can be sure manufacturers looking to avoid the problems from last year of laying staff off and slowdowns in production, will be introducing headline grabbing financial solutions set to entice customers into the showroom and combat the inevitable slowdown in car sales.

One dealer has already told us that the car manufacturer his business represents is looking at subsidised 0% and low rate APR PCP’s to generate interest and these coupled with the new models set to be introduced means that he, for one, is feeling more confident.

If they can make the deals look attractive on the more popular models and the economy continues to inch its way out of recession there is no reason not to suggest a steady sales performance in 2010.
Another prominent industry insider we spoke with believes, as we have also predicted, that sales of used cars and particularly three years and older models, will be the growth area.

The hope is that buyers, who ordinarily wouldn’t think of a franchised dealer for an older higher mileage car, will be given the opportunity and in turn will welcome the perceived security of dealing directly with the manufacturer’s representative.

There is no doubt that a post-scrappage world is going to be a particularly challenging one for UK new car sales and with predictions from the likes of SMMT coming in at around 1.8 million units this could mean a drop of approximately 200,000 units on 2009 and a whopping 800,000 units down on 2003’s record year.

Strap yourself in 2010 could be a bumpy ride.