Kia’s 32,199 new car registrations in the first three months of 2022 made it the UK’s best-selling car brand year-to-date – almost 8% ahead of Ford in second place.
In the latest edition of AM industry commentator David Francis pondered how the challenges faced by car manufacturers were shaping the new car registrations rankings as well as their profits.
The car retail sector should be braced for a prolonged period of uncertainty as OEMs impacted by Russia’s war in Ukraine battle to deliver vehicle supplies and consumers “grapple with a cost-of-living crisis”.
New car sales were down 15.8% in April 2022 versus April 2021, to 119,167 registrations. The SMMT data shows a -33.3% decrease in large fleet registrations.
New car registrations are expected to decline 10% year-on-year in the first half of 2022 with all hopes pinned on a recovery in H2, Cox Automotive’s latest forecasts reveal.
Sales of new light commercial vehicles in March were down 27.6% year-on-year as supplies of large and medium panel vans continue to be constrained.
The UK automotive sector has suffered its worst March new car registrations result since 1998, with Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief executive Mike Hawes stating that it “lays bare the challenges ahead”.
The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) has warned that inflation could peak at 8% in the first half of 2022 after the global economic outlook weakened following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Lookers chief executive Mark Raban claims to be a numbers man, who likes “to stick with my knitting”, but he is poised to “try something different” with the AM100 group's newly-mapped growth strategy.
New car prices have risen by more than a quarter, in some cases, in the last three years.
As Q1 draws to a close with what is likely to be a quieter than normal March plate change month, AM took a look at the new car finance offers being served up by some of the sector’s leading brands.
As manufacturer strategies focus increasingly on electric vehicles (EV), crossovers and SUVs, is customer choice set to become a thing of the past?
February’s new car registrations remained 25.9% down on pre-pandemic 2020 as Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine created increasing doubt about a volume recovery for car retailers.
The new 22 plate released on March 1 may attract an ‘all-time low of new registrations’ in what has been a traditional peak quarter, warns MotorVise.
Aston Martin has reported a 79% uplift in revenues and a near-halving of its pre-tax losses ahead of the arrival of the world’s most powerful SUV and a new V12 Vantage coupe to its model line-up.
The consumer car finance market grew 2% by volume and 13% by value in December to complete a 2021 “rebound” despite the headwinds of COVID-19 and vehicle supply shortages.
Chorley Group has tripled the scale of its MG Motor UK representation in its home town with the opening of a new standalone showroom for the brand.
A new Kia car dealership corporate identity (CI) is set to be applied to the entire UK retail network by the end of 2024 will break cover in Edinburgh and Bolton within weeks.
Audi, Hyundai, Peugeot and Toyota were among the best new car registrations performers as Kia accelerated its sales to finish the first month of 2022 as the UK's best-selling brand.
2022 is off to a positive start, says the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which published data showing 115,087 new cars were registered in January, including 62,300 dealership sales to private buyers.
Kia’s new Sportage SUV is tipped to play a “key player” in the Korean car maker’s drive to exceed 100,000 registrations in 2022.
Cox Automotive has published a prediction that new car registrations will increase by 14.1% this year.
Soaring energy costs could lead to increases in the price of new cars with elelctric vehicles (EV) facing a price rise 'double whammy', SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes has warned.
UK car production in 2021 fell 6.7% to only 859,575 units, according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the worst total since 1956.
Honda UK managing director Jean-Marc Streng says the brand is exploring the possibilities of the agency franchised retail model as it draws to the end of “phase one” of its retail network restructure.
