Car Makers Premier League - March 2011

It’s time once more for the Car Makers Premier League where each and every month we examine the top 20 manufacturers by number of units registered and see just how they look when compared with the previous month. 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?

March statistics (based on the SMMT figures for UK new car registrations in March 2011) revealed that 366,101 new 11-plate cars were registered in what is traditionally the biggest month of the year, a decline of 7.9% on 2010. The good news is that when scrappage sales are removed from the 2010 figures the market was up a better than expected 5.9%. Wonderful thing statistics!

In March 2010 the market, buoyed by those scrappage registrations, recorded a 26.6% increase on the previous year to 397,383 units with over 12% of these registrations being down to the scheme.

Overall only the top 5 positions outperformed the market this month with the top three of Mini (a creditable 18% up on March 2010) Nissan (staying at number 2 with a 15% increase on last year) and Seat (up 14%) being some distance ahead of the competition. In 4th place (and out of the double figures) with a rather more modest 9% increase is BMW. In fact only the top 6 managed to improve on March 2010 and 5 of those 6 belong to German owned manufacturers (Mini, Seat, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz).

This month we have lost Suzuki and Skoda who both failed to register enough unites to put them in the top 20 (4,968 units – down 9% and 6,421 units – down 5% respectively). We welcome back Land Rover and Volvo this month. Land Rover’s 10,083 units and 5% decline bring them back to 10th while Volvo’s 6,585 units and 14% decline bring them back to 13th.

Good news this month for Toyota (up from 18th to 11th) and Kia (up from 20th to 15th). While it’s bad news for Mazda who slump to the bottom with a dismal 33% drop on 2010.

Renault continued their recent lack of form by languishing at 19th for another month.

A “better than expected” month (once scrappage registrations are removed) and the SMMT still remain upbeat; “Despite a dip versus 2010, the market remains on course to meet SMMT’s forecast for the year with motorists buying increasingly fuel-efficient and low emitting vehicles across every segment.”

Car Makers Premier League March 2011

POS	Manufacturer	Mar 2010	Mar 2011	Diff	%
1(6)		7,919	9,319	1,400	18
2(2)		14,780	16,951	2,171	15
3(12)		6,386	7,251	865	14
4(7)		16,478	17,987	1,509	9
5(3)		19,136	20,736	1,600	8
6(1)		13,943	14,776	833	6
7(11)		13,025	12,921	-104	(1)
8(4)		43,119	41,578	-1,541	(4)
9(9)		29,209	28,069	-1,140	(4)
10(-)		10,514	10,083	-431	(4)
11(18)		18,033	16,183	-1,850	(10)
12(13)		21,288	18,597	-2,691	(13)
13(-)		7,683	6,585	-1,098	(14)
14(16)		62,075	52,829	-9,246	(15)
15(20)		12,277	10,007	-2,270	(18)
16(15)		10,709	8,509	-2,200	(21)
17(5)		14,076	11,021	-3,055	(22)
18(17)		15,241	11,337	-3,904	(26)
19(19)		20,919	14,717	-6,202	(30)
20(14)		10,384	6,981	-3,403	(33)