The start of March may have been a little slower than usual due to winter storms, but dealers pushed ahead with their plate-change deliveries.
While February delivered a drop in registrations, as expected, March is also likely to be below last year’s strong performance.
Vauxhall may be facing uncertainty over the future of Ellesmere Port and plans to cull roughly one in three of its UK network sites (see news insight on page 6), but it was offering £500 worth of free fuel on all new 18-plate cars between March 9 and March 12. The free fuel deal was on top of any existing PCP offers and Vauxhall also put a Help to Buy scheme in place to tempt customers into showrooms with up to five years interest-free and free insurance on the Corsa. It could be a good way to battle Ford’s strong 0% offers on its Fiesta this month.
Seat stands out as the brand to watch for growth year-to-date, with registrations up 17.5%, to 6,561 units, compared with the first two months of last year. Its finance offers are led by a 0% offer on its core model, the Leon, at £229 a month.
The new Arona and Ateca crossovers are also available with fairly low deposit levels, which could be easily offset with a used car part-exchange, and reasonable monthly payments at £219 and £249 respectively. That strong trio of models could see Seat’s network outperform the market when figures are reported at the start of April.
Jeep and DS are still struggling out of the blocks in 2018 with year-to-date performances down by 57% and 56% respectively, to similar 0.4% market shares at about 1,000 vehicles.
These declines will put pressure on March to pull things back for Q1 and the manufacturers are stepping in to help.
DS is offering a £2,800 deposit contribution on its DS4 1.2 Puretech when bought on PCP to get sales moving during the plate change. The DS 3 is also available for less than £200 a month with a fairly low APR, at 2.9%. Targets are likely to have been readjusted for DS to account for the drop in volumes, but Citroën’s new car registration growth of 4.7% can hopefully help to support dealers if the standalone premium brand’s Q1 performance cannot work its way into the black.
Jeep is putting a large £8,500 deposit contribution towards the Cherokee Limited 2.2 Multijet, but for those unconvinced of the brand’s positioning in the market verses strong SUV competition, it could be seen as more of a sensible readjustment of the £40,085 asking price. The entry-level Renegade is available for less than £200 a month and it’s on a 2.2% APR, so this could also help limit Jeep’s Q1 losses.
| Model | Finance type | Deposit | Term | Monthly payment | Final payment | APR | Offer ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vauxhall | |||||||
| Crossland X SE 1.2i (81PS) in Summit White Crossland X SE 1.2i (81PS) in Summit White | PCP | £999 | 48 | £245 | £5,790 | 4.20% | 02/04/2018 |
| Grandland X Sport Nav 1.2i (130PS) S/S in Topaz Blue | PCP | £2,299 | 48 | £310 | £9,580 | 4.20% | 02/04/2018 |
| Adam Energised 1.2i (70PS) in Pump Up the Blue | PCP | £899 | 48 | £210 | £4,108 | 4.20% | 02/04/2018 |
| Corsa 3dr Energy 1.4i (75PS) ecoTEC a/c in Lava Red | PCP | £699 | 48 | £200 | £3,691 | 5.20% | 02/04/2018 |
| Corsa 5dr Energy 1.4i (75PS) ecoTEC a/c in Lava Red | PCP | £999 | 48 | £205 | £3,852 | 5.10% | 02/04/2018 |
| Mokka X Active 1.4i Turbo (140PS) Start/Stop FWD in Summit White | PCP | £1,299 | 48 | £275 | £6,546 | 4.20% | 02/04/2018 |
| Astra 5-Door SRi 1.4i Turbo (150PS) in Summit White | PCP | £1,299 | 48 | £280 | £5,747 | 4.20% | 02/04/2018 |
| Seat | |||||||
| Design Mii 5dr 1.0 12V 60PS | PCP | £549 | 48 | £145 | £3,032.77 | 6.40% | 03/04/2018 |
| Ibiza 5DR SE Technology 1.0 MPI 75PS | PCP | £599 | 48 | £199 | £5,150.19 | 6.10% | 03/04/2018 |
| Leon 5DR SE Dynamic Technology 1.2 TSI 110PS | PCP | £2,799 | 42 | £229 | £6,362 | 0.00% | 03/04/2018 |
| Arona SE Technology 1.0 TSI 95PS | PCP | £1,299 | 48 | £219 | £7,087.57 | 4.90% | 03/04/2018 |
| Ateca SE Technology 1.0 TSI Ecomotive 115PS | PCP | £2,299 | 48 | £249 | £9,844.92 | 5.90% | 03/04/2018 |
| Leon SC FR Technology 1.4 TSI 125PS | PCP | £2,399 | 42 | £259 | £6,977 | 0.00% | 03/04/2018 |
| Leon ST SE Dynamic Technology 1.2 TSI 110PS | PCP | £2,399 | 42 | £255 | £6,691 | 0.00% | 03/04/2018 |
| Toledo SE 1.0 TSI 110PS | PCP | £1,199 | 48 | £229 | £3,882.77 | 4.90% | 03/05/2018 |
| Alhambra SE 2.0 TDI Ecomotive 150PS | PCP | £7,099 | 48 | £309 | £10,563.86 | 5.90% | 03/06/2018 |
| Jeep | |||||||
| Renegade Sport 1.6 E-torQ 110PS Manual | PCP | £2,475 | 48 | £199 | £5,270 | 2.20% | 31/03/2018 |
| Cherokee Limited 2.0 Multijet II 140PS Manual | PCP | £6,990 | 48 | £315 | £8,942 | 3.90% | 31/03/2018 |
| Grand Cherokee Summit 3.0 MultiJet II 250PS Automatic 4X4 | PCP | £7,499 | 48 | £485 | £17,686 | 0.00% | 31/03/2018 |
| Wrangler 4dr Overland 2.8 CRD 200PS Automatic 4x4 | PCP | £9,240 | 48 | £439 | £14,231 | 7.50% | 31/03/2018 |
| DS | |||||||
| DS 3 Connected Chic PureTech 82 manual | PCP | £2,923.11 | 37 | £189 | £6,421 | 2.90% | 31/03/2018 |
| DS 3 Cabrio Connected Chic PureTech 110 manual | PCP | £3,693.26 | 36 | £279 | £6,761 | 4.90% | 31/03/2018 |
| DS 4 Performance Line PureTech 130 S&S 6-speed manual | PCP | £3,626.29 | 36 | £305 | £7,244 | 4.90% | 31/03/2018 |
| DS 4 Crossback PureTech 130 S&S 6-speed manual | PCP | £3,662.83 | 36 | £319 | £7,551 | 4.90% | 31/03/2018 |
| DS 5 Performance Line BlueHDi 150 S&S 6-speed manual | PCP | £6,567.50 | 36 | £445 | £10,058 | 4.90% | 31/03/2018 |
Author:
Tom Seymour
Freelance writer
Freelance writer for AM, Tom Seymour has been a specialist B2B journalist covering the automotive sector for over 14 years. He started his freelance career in 2015 and currently writes for a variety of automotive, business and technology publications.
chizzy - 03/04/2018 13:32
You say: "The new Arona and Ateca crossovers are also available with fairly low deposit levels, which could be easily offset with a used car part-exchange, and reasonable monthly payments at £219 and £249 respectively." Well if customers do use their part-ex as a deposit against those deals, let's hope they can save a sufficient amount over the agreement life to ensure they can keep the following agreements rental within a reasonable margin! This is the sort of tactic that can give leasing, in all its forms, a bad name and provides the FCA to dig ever deeper. The likes of us are having to fight against this constantly. Sadly, too many retail customers are too easily fixed on the monthly rate, but for those who do listen to the argument we manage to hold on to them as customers for many years. No wonder so many manufacturers want to still drive clients to the showrooms by any means, fair or foul. Short termism is still a menace within the retail motor trade. I am not picking on SEAT alone per se.