Car Makers Premier League - February 2010

It’s time once again for the Car Makers Premier League where each month we take a look at the top 20 manufacturers in terms of units registered and how they compare with the previous month. Who are the Chelsea’s, Man United’s and Arsenal’s at the top and the Portsmouth’s, Burnley’s and Hull’s bringing up the rear? At the end of the year who will be crowned champion? Who will drop out of the top 20 as the year unfolds and which high achievers will be promoted?

Continuing on with the season and February’s stats (based on the SMMT figures for UK new car registrations in February 2010) is, on the surface, still encouraging with all but three of the top twenty manufacturers posting an increase on February 2009. The headline figure for the month is a 26.4% increase but it should be remembered that the same month last year was down 21.9% on February 2009. Overall the top 11 positions all outperformed the market this month.

Clearly the scrappage scheme is still having a massive impact with the SMMT revealing that just fewer than 20% of the cars being registered in February were done so through the scheme. With the scheme’s official end date being the 31st March we are now in the scrappage end game so it will be very interesting to observe how car manufacturers and their dealer networks manage the transition to a post scrappage marketplace.

A closer look at the table this month reveals a massive boost for Kia, storming back to the top with an incredible 536% increase on February last year, equating to an extra 2,837 units. Not too far behind is stable mate Hyundai with a 226% increase and completing the three digit percentage increases is last year’s whipping boys Renault with a 137% increase (must have a new manager!)

At the other end of the table things are not looking so good especially for Honda which languishes in bottom place with a 25% drop year on year. It is particularly worrying for them because at the same time last year they were already 12% down on 2008 let’s hope they can stop the rot.

This month we have lost Land Rover who drop out of the top twenty with 804 units registered. Their place is taken by Mini who shoot back into the top twenty to 14th position with a 13% increase on last year.

Good news too for Toyota who appear to be putting their recent troubles behind them with a move up from bottom place to 13th and a 15% increase in registrations..

Stay tuned as we reveal the movers and shakers throughout the year and as the scrappage scheme draws to a close we could be entering, as Sir Alex Ferguson puts it, squeaky bum time!

POS	Manufacturer	February 2009	February 2010	Diff	%
1(2)		529	3366	2837	536
2(1)		923	3007	2084	226
3(3)		1504	3559	2055	137
4(11)		725	1378	653	90
5(4)		887	1574	687	77
6(8)		2068	3533	1465	71
7(6)		1109	1752	643	58
8(12)		1304	1923	619	47
9(15)		2323	3141	818	35
10(5)		5473	7132	1659	30
11(10)		2108	2701	593	28
12(9)		746	904	158	21
13(20)		2981	3439	458	15
14(-)		860	973	113	13
15(13)		2683	2957	274	10
16(17)		9175	9915	740	8
17(14)		2027	2098	71	4
18(18)		9372	7950	(1422)	(15)
19(16)		2017	1587	(430)	(21)
20(19)		2211	1663	(548)	(25)