October continued the recent trend of falling car sales in the UK, with a seventh consecutive month of reduced registrations year on year. The decline in sales started in April and has continued ever since. It seems people lack the confidence to spend money on a new vehicle right now.
Sales of cars in general fell by 12.2%, with diesel sales plummeting by 30%, despite a range of generous scrappage scheme offers. Year to date sales are currently down 4.6%, with 2, 224,603 new cars being registered in the first ten months of 2017. It is thought that by the end of December there will have been a 4.7% drop in total.
Which cars are people buying?
In contrast to this, sales of electric cars have risen by 36.9%, with 8,244 new models being registered within the month. Despite MoneySuperMarket’s finding that some 49% of the British public have never even considered buying a hybrid or electric vehicle, it seems that alternative fuels are catching on, albeit slowly.
Although car sales in general declined, there was a 3% rise in the sales of petrol cars in October. Consumers are worried about buying diesel cars in particular and opting for petrol or electric vehicles instead.
The October numbers were also affected by a 13% drop in fleet purchases, which was more than the 10% decline seen in the consumer figures for the month. Just as individual car buyers are bracing themselves for the impact of Brexit, so are the UK’s businesses.
(Credit – Jaggery)
The death of diesel
The figures will no doubt please people who have been fighting against diesel cars due to the high level of dangerous toxins that they produce. Many consumers have been left confused by the recent emissions debates surrounding the different types of vehicles on offer to them and it seems that even the various scrappage schemes aren’t enough to tempt buyers back to diesel models.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) Chief Executive Mike Hawes has said that the government needs to make it clear that consumers buying new, lower emission diesel cars won’t face additional taxes or charges like those who drive older diesels. He goes on to say that this issue should be addressed in the next budget. He calls for fleet renewal as one of the best ways to help to combat the air quality issue that is currently spreading across the UK.
Other factors
Another reason for the reduction in car sales is rising inflation, which has hit many families hard over the past few months in particular. Falling wages (in relative terms) are also playing a part, as is the recent interest rate rise. It seems that people just don’t trust the economy enough to make a big purchase. The Brexit vote and subsequent chaos around the negotiations with the EU are clearly having a negative impact on the motor industry.
As people put off buying cars, there’s also the fact that many are finding that they don’t actually need to own a car. They are opting to use public transport, share with a friend or family member, or join a car share for their commute to and from work. Freedom from the expense of taxing, insuring, servicing and maintaining a vehicle can certainly make a big difference to family finances.
Production figures falling
This is a heavy blow to UK car manufacturers. In response to the lack of demand from customers, manufacturers have seen production figures fall over the last five months. With no end in sight for plummeting sales figures, this only looks like it will get worse, as manufacturers rely heavily on Britain’s single market and customs union memberships, which are both at risk during the Brexit negotiations.
The devastating effect on Vauxhall workers has already been felt. The firm has announced that it will need to cut 400 jobs from its site near Liverpool. The redundancies have been put down to rising costs due to the fall of the value of the pound, on top of a change in customer car preference.
Nor is it only consumers who are holding back on buying cars and impacting production levels. Sales to businesses also fell in October, resulting in a 26.8% drop. Businesses and individuals are both cutting back on spending during these times of financial uncertainty.
These figures may make for depressing reading, but perhaps they also offer a chance to embrace people’s interest in alternative fuel vehicles. And perhaps motorists will resume buying diesels once they can be confident that doing so won’t turn out to be a mistake in years to come.
When do you think we will see a turnaround in the fortunes of the UK car industry? Will it come before the UK leaves the EU or after? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
First of all I would like to say that the public is tired of being told we are getting rid of this and going this/that vehicle by year due to climate change, now that all data they told us is wrong as this is out of date as there is no man made climate change confirmed by NASA on the 10/11/2017 what do you suggest we do now.
Please provide link to NASA statement
Here you go, gerrond.
https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
Michael+Ormston won’t like it, though.
Assuming that he is a person not some bot then either a link from him or an admission that there was no such link would be in order. If not the credulous will just accept it.
He probably meant confirmed by Trump.
Much of the recent issue has been about local pollution in towns and cities from NOx and its affect on health; perhaps he doesn’t believe that science either.
I think it’s very arrogant of us to believe a couple of hundred years of human industry is solely responsible for severely changing a natural cycle over tens of thousands of years..
The pollution in cities is not only down to car drivers, buses and lorries probably cause more, one council reported an average speed for is bus stock of 6mph over routes. London in particular is surrounded by airports, which must also contribute to the smog – but is only ever car drivers held to account.
I bought a diesel 6 years ago largely because the Government said that was the way forward. I’ve just changed back to a small turbo petrol engine, but in 3 years time they’ll probably decide petrol is responsible. The infrastructure and charging points doesn’t exist to go all electric, and if we did, the national grid would never cope. The Government needs to stop knee jerk finger pointing reactions and sort out a proper plan for this.
it is obviously a simple coincidence that global warming started at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Yes there have been cycles before but this one is rather sudden & rather large – and the only one to present any danger to us.
It may be arrogant to assume that we are the sole cause; it is rather stupid to ignore the possibility that we are the major cause.
Having visited Japan this year their very good cheap public transport makes owning a car almost a waste of time. Maybe an almost completely all electric public system in our towns and cities would reduce the pollution here. That is if it was cheap to use. Hitting the motorists again will fail untill a good cheap option is made available in every town and city not just london.
Hmm… i would just love my wife and daughters being manhandled onto a Japanese train…perverts paradise… and uncomfortable…
Why does it take 3 days to moderate a comment suggesting that climate-change is real and man-made?
It seems that NASA do accept climate change.
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ — last updated 7 November 2017.
Of course climate change sceptics will continue to believe as it suits them. Personally I would prefer climate change to be (at least partially, and probably mainly) man-made. If it is mad-made there is at least the possibility of reverse-ing it.
Part of the reason must be the change to the VED regime. This is causing unintended behaviour changes with the car buying public. We have two cars that were bought under the old regime (one of which is an EU6 diesel under a year old) and which we would normally change before they reach 4 years old. We now intend to keep these cars much longer than intended. Current VED costs are a total of £180; VED for exactly to same cars under the new scheme would cost us a combined annual ongoing cost of £590! Having tried to trade in a high CO2 car several years ago, I also discovered that cars that attract a high VED cost are extremely hard to shift. In one case, a dealer declined to sell me a new car simply because he didn’t want my trade-in! As such, we’ll be hanging onto our ‘relatively’ low VED cost cars for many years, thank you! I really can’t understand why the SMMT didn’t lobby the government to ditch this change. They should also be sticking up much more for those of us who own diesel cars and want to continue using fossil fuel powered vehicles. Once again, there is too much political correctness and sucking up to the ecomentalists. The car industry and its trade body have only themselves to blame.
I read a recent article that purported to argue that larger electric vehicles were just as polluting as there fossil fuel equivalents over the lifetime of the car. This was especially during manufacture added to the pollutant issue for battery production and final disposal. Argument was that small fossil fuel cars were no worse and possibility better than an electric car. If all this is true then sales of all vehicles are going to stall as the consumer becomes even more unsure as to what to buy. Personally I looked at trading in 2 older Mercedes diesels for a BMW i3 but the trade in values were so derisory I decided to keep the vehicles I had and I can’t be the only one to have made that decision at this time.
No one has yet explained to me what is going to happen to car battery packs once they have reach end of life. I expect they will be very expensive to decommission, so will we see them just going to landfill? Will the value of your electric vehicle plummet once it is deemed that your battery pack is too old? Will the cost of replacing the battery pack effectively right the car off?
The word Brexit has been used 3 times in this article and has got nothing to do with whether or not people tax a car!!!!!
Cat tax in the UK is not optional. Impending Brexit HAS got a lot to do with whether people buy cars. Once the reverse honeymoon whereby the UK can export cars tariff free and at favourable (to exporter) exchange rates to the EU is over, expect a steep decline in UK car manufacture – similar to the sort caused by the late Red Robbo’.
Brexit has nothing to do with people decision to buy cars.. We are currently being threatened with daylight robbery tax on diesels.. people, like me actually want to continue to use diesels but “DONT” want to be bled dry by incompetent politicians.
Ill make my decision after the budget.. My decision will also include if its viable for me to continue working in Manchester city centre, if not, then at the end of the current contract I will make a conscious decision not to accept any work inside the M60. if that leaves me on the dole then so be it..
Maybe the cost of new cars has something to do with less people buying them they seem to be going up in leaps and bounds
Not surprised at all, i just moved to the middle east from Yorkshire, petrol has just gone up here to 29p a litre!!…I drive a 4.0 litre m3 .i would never even think of driving this car in the uk, even insurance is one price across the board, unless your driving a ferrari etc. Just shows how raped we get in the UK,
1. There hasn’t been a UK car industry for many years now, with any made being Chinese, Japanese, French, German, American, etc, etc. Consecutive Labour, Conservative and LibDem governments have allowed this to happen, along with the systematic dismantling of other manufacturing in this country. 2. Brexit has bugger all to do with the state of our long defunct car industry, or the state of this country in general. Consecutive UK governments, along with the EU are very much guilty of these failures, together with trade unions and greedy and/or badly managed car manufacturers. 3. I have long said that increased use of diesel/detergent particulates, along with aviation fuel, are responsible for the increase in respiratory problems, yet it takes how any experts to reach this conclusion and do something about it? 4. Of course Vauxhall are going to have jobs cut, following its sale to French PSA, what were the UK government thinking (yet unemployment is still at it’s lowest since 1066, according to Office for National Statistics)? Oh, but no, the UK government doesn’t do thinking. 5. Of course there will be a drop in car sales, with all the reactionary new rules throwing everyone into disarray. As if buying a car wasn’t already a minefield, knowing WHAT to buy has become that much harder. IF governments and manufacturers had listened to and acted upon what environmentalists and health experts have been warning about, regarding pollution, and introduced pollution reduction measures earlier, it wouldn’t have been such a shock to the car industry and consumers.
So Nissan, Toyota, Jaguar/Landrover, BMW/Mini, Honda all making cars in the UK aren’t a car industry? What planet are you on? What has the sale of Vauxhall to French Groupe PSA got to do with job losses? You do realise Vauxhall had been American owned since 1925? Why are you raising your blood pressure about stuff you’re just making up?!
Down hill all the way.
It isn’t down to brexit as I think it’s all due to the government making the most of motorist (yet again) to fill their short falls by introducing the £150.00 additional road levy. Yet again a government drop off which could result in job losses.
I can remember being told, whilst studying Chemistry at Plymouth Uni ~1992, that most of the damage to the environment was being done by aircraft as they are dumping their pollutants high up in the atmosphere. Why has nothing been done ??? Do all the Politicians have shares in the Aircraft industry I wonder ? In parts of the USA additives are routinely added to diesel fuels which reduce pollution by quite large amounts ……..UK, lets just tax the ordinary man in the street, far easier.
Perhaps the car industry should try and support its customers?
Endless attacks by Government and Councils and not a word said !!!!!!!!!
Look what has happened in London and is now happening under Sadiq Khan the new Mayor.
No response from the car industry.
It has the money, the brains, the technical knowhow, etc but is totally silent as successive government and council give drivers a good ‘kicking’.
What happens in London, gradually filters down to even the smallest village, so coming your way soon!
Even so called motoring press and ‘enthusiast’ magazines are silent as we sleepwalk into the Cycling & Walking ‘nirvana’.
First of all I would like to say that the public is tired of being told we are getting rid of this and going this/that vehicle by year due to climate change, now that all data they told us is wrong as this is out of date as there is no man made climate change confirmed by NASA on the 10/11/2017 what do you suggest we do now.
Please provide link to NASA statement
Here you go, gerrond.
https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
Michael+Ormston won’t like it, though.
Assuming that he is a person not some bot then either a link from him or an admission that there was no such link would be in order. If not the credulous will just accept it.
He probably meant confirmed by Trump.
Much of the recent issue has been about local pollution in towns and cities from NOx and its affect on health; perhaps he doesn’t believe that science either.
I think it’s very arrogant of us to believe a couple of hundred years of human industry is solely responsible for severely changing a natural cycle over tens of thousands of years..
The pollution in cities is not only down to car drivers, buses and lorries probably cause more, one council reported an average speed for is bus stock of 6mph over routes. London in particular is surrounded by airports, which must also contribute to the smog – but is only ever car drivers held to account.
I bought a diesel 6 years ago largely because the Government said that was the way forward. I’ve just changed back to a small turbo petrol engine, but in 3 years time they’ll probably decide petrol is responsible. The infrastructure and charging points doesn’t exist to go all electric, and if we did, the national grid would never cope. The Government needs to stop knee jerk finger pointing reactions and sort out a proper plan for this.
it is obviously a simple coincidence that global warming started at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Yes there have been cycles before but this one is rather sudden & rather large – and the only one to present any danger to us.
It may be arrogant to assume that we are the sole cause; it is rather stupid to ignore the possibility that we are the major cause.
Having visited Japan this year their very good cheap public transport makes owning a car almost a waste of time. Maybe an almost completely all electric public system in our towns and cities would reduce the pollution here. That is if it was cheap to use. Hitting the motorists again will fail untill a good cheap option is made available in every town and city not just london.
Hmm… i would just love my wife and daughters being manhandled onto a Japanese train…perverts paradise… and uncomfortable…
Why does it take 3 days to moderate a comment suggesting that climate-change is real and man-made?
It seems that NASA do accept climate change.
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ — last updated 7 November 2017.
Of course climate change sceptics will continue to believe as it suits them. Personally I would prefer climate change to be (at least partially, and probably mainly) man-made. If it is mad-made there is at least the possibility of reverse-ing it.
Part of the reason must be the change to the VED regime. This is causing unintended behaviour changes with the car buying public. We have two cars that were bought under the old regime (one of which is an EU6 diesel under a year old) and which we would normally change before they reach 4 years old. We now intend to keep these cars much longer than intended. Current VED costs are a total of £180; VED for exactly to same cars under the new scheme would cost us a combined annual ongoing cost of £590! Having tried to trade in a high CO2 car several years ago, I also discovered that cars that attract a high VED cost are extremely hard to shift. In one case, a dealer declined to sell me a new car simply because he didn’t want my trade-in! As such, we’ll be hanging onto our ‘relatively’ low VED cost cars for many years, thank you! I really can’t understand why the SMMT didn’t lobby the government to ditch this change. They should also be sticking up much more for those of us who own diesel cars and want to continue using fossil fuel powered vehicles. Once again, there is too much political correctness and sucking up to the ecomentalists. The car industry and its trade body have only themselves to blame.
I read a recent article that purported to argue that larger electric vehicles were just as polluting as there fossil fuel equivalents over the lifetime of the car. This was especially during manufacture added to the pollutant issue for battery production and final disposal. Argument was that small fossil fuel cars were no worse and possibility better than an electric car. If all this is true then sales of all vehicles are going to stall as the consumer becomes even more unsure as to what to buy. Personally I looked at trading in 2 older Mercedes diesels for a BMW i3 but the trade in values were so derisory I decided to keep the vehicles I had and I can’t be the only one to have made that decision at this time.
No one has yet explained to me what is going to happen to car battery packs once they have reach end of life. I expect they will be very expensive to decommission, so will we see them just going to landfill? Will the value of your electric vehicle plummet once it is deemed that your battery pack is too old? Will the cost of replacing the battery pack effectively right the car off?
The word Brexit has been used 3 times in this article and has got nothing to do with whether or not people tax a car!!!!!
Cat tax in the UK is not optional. Impending Brexit HAS got a lot to do with whether people buy cars. Once the reverse honeymoon whereby the UK can export cars tariff free and at favourable (to exporter) exchange rates to the EU is over, expect a steep decline in UK car manufacture – similar to the sort caused by the late Red Robbo’.
Brexit has nothing to do with people decision to buy cars.. We are currently being threatened with daylight robbery tax on diesels.. people, like me actually want to continue to use diesels but “DONT” want to be bled dry by incompetent politicians.
Ill make my decision after the budget.. My decision will also include if its viable for me to continue working in Manchester city centre, if not, then at the end of the current contract I will make a conscious decision not to accept any work inside the M60. if that leaves me on the dole then so be it..
Maybe the cost of new cars has something to do with less people buying them they seem to be going up in leaps and bounds
Not surprised at all, i just moved to the middle east from Yorkshire, petrol has just gone up here to 29p a litre!!…I drive a 4.0 litre m3 .i would never even think of driving this car in the uk, even insurance is one price across the board, unless your driving a ferrari etc. Just shows how raped we get in the UK,
1. There hasn’t been a UK car industry for many years now, with any made being Chinese, Japanese, French, German, American, etc, etc. Consecutive Labour, Conservative and LibDem governments have allowed this to happen, along with the systematic dismantling of other manufacturing in this country. 2. Brexit has bugger all to do with the state of our long defunct car industry, or the state of this country in general. Consecutive UK governments, along with the EU are very much guilty of these failures, together with trade unions and greedy and/or badly managed car manufacturers. 3. I have long said that increased use of diesel/detergent particulates, along with aviation fuel, are responsible for the increase in respiratory problems, yet it takes how any experts to reach this conclusion and do something about it? 4. Of course Vauxhall are going to have jobs cut, following its sale to French PSA, what were the UK government thinking (yet unemployment is still at it’s lowest since 1066, according to Office for National Statistics)? Oh, but no, the UK government doesn’t do thinking. 5. Of course there will be a drop in car sales, with all the reactionary new rules throwing everyone into disarray. As if buying a car wasn’t already a minefield, knowing WHAT to buy has become that much harder. IF governments and manufacturers had listened to and acted upon what environmentalists and health experts have been warning about, regarding pollution, and introduced pollution reduction measures earlier, it wouldn’t have been such a shock to the car industry and consumers.
So Nissan, Toyota, Jaguar/Landrover, BMW/Mini, Honda all making cars in the UK aren’t a car industry? What planet are you on? What has the sale of Vauxhall to French Groupe PSA got to do with job losses? You do realise Vauxhall had been American owned since 1925? Why are you raising your blood pressure about stuff you’re just making up?!
Down hill all the way.
It isn’t down to brexit as I think it’s all due to the government making the most of motorist (yet again) to fill their short falls by introducing the £150.00 additional road levy. Yet again a government drop off which could result in job losses.
I can remember being told, whilst studying Chemistry at Plymouth Uni ~1992, that most of the damage to the environment was being done by aircraft as they are dumping their pollutants high up in the atmosphere. Why has nothing been done ??? Do all the Politicians have shares in the Aircraft industry I wonder ? In parts of the USA additives are routinely added to diesel fuels which reduce pollution by quite large amounts ……..UK, lets just tax the ordinary man in the street, far easier.
Perhaps the car industry should try and support its customers?
Endless attacks by Government and Councils and not a word said !!!!!!!!!
Look what has happened in London and is now happening under Sadiq Khan the new Mayor.
No response from the car industry.
It has the money, the brains, the technical knowhow, etc but is totally silent as successive government and council give drivers a good ‘kicking’.
What happens in London, gradually filters down to even the smallest village, so coming your way soon!
Even so called motoring press and ‘enthusiast’ magazines are silent as we sleepwalk into the Cycling & Walking ‘nirvana’.