With September’s expected market drop out of the way, dealers can now concentrate on closing out the year positively as new WLTP stock arrives in showrooms over the next few months.

AM understands some manufacturers have cut targets for Q4 if they know they are unable to get WLTP stock through to the network quickly enough, so sales expectations have been reduced as a result.

While that Q4 bonus may be more achievable as a result, a reduced market means fewer opportunities for profit in other areas, such as finance.

Ford led the market by volume in September, but it still saw a 16.05% drop in registrations in the plate-change month, as well as a 12% drop YTD.

It has reset its strategy for Q4, with its representative examples showing fewer 0% deals, instead moving to a slightly higher rate of APR at 1.2% across about half of models. Importantly, those 0% deals are still there on the Ka, Fiesta, Focus and Ecosport – all big volume models that need to keep moving to keep dealers in profit. Both the Ka and Fiesta are available at £99 and £160 a month respectively to tempt customers in the run-up to Christmas.

Mitsubishi is a stand-out brand this year, managing to somehow navigate the stock shortages that have plagued other brands in September, with a 35.4% increase in registrations and a performance up 22.6% YTD.

A scan of the Japanese manufacturer’s representative examples for Q4 doesn’t reveal a link as to whether they have had a part to play in its success. The Eclipse Cross crossover stands out as it’s even cheaper than a Mirage city-car in Q4 at £114.53 a month, but that’s after a customer can find £7,016 for the deposit.

The deposit for Mitsubishi’s popular Outlander PHEV is cheaper, at £2,500, but that leads to a rather expensive monthly payment of nearly £600, well above the average of £315 from the data AM has collated for Q4 so far. Out of the examples in the table here, Mitsubishi has the highest rate of APR.

It’s interesting to note what happened to those manufacturers AM had been informed were struggling to homologate their vehicles in time for the WLTP deadline. Both Audi and Volkswagen struggled in September, with registrations down heavily by 55% and 53% respectively.

This could potentially be a positive in some ways for dealers as this hints that both brands did not force registrations of non-WLTP stock, so dealers will not be left with a glut of vehicles that will be difficult to shift over the next quarter.

Jaguar was another brand AM had heard was having trouble with getting WLTP stock through to its network, but by comparison its registrations increased by almost 20% in September.

There is strong support in place from Jaguar in Q4, with 0% offers on core models such as the XE and XF, as well as the E-Pace. The E-Pace is actually the most affordable model in Jaguar’s range this quarter at £299 a month after a £5,345 deposit.

Model Finance type Deposit Term Monthly Payment Final payment APR Offer ends
Ford
KA+ Zetec 1.2 Ti-VCT 85PS PCP £3,343 24 £99.00 £5,926 0.00% 31/12/2018
Fiesta Zetec 1.0 EcoBoost 100PS 3dr PCP £4,529 36 £160.00 £6,021 0.00% 31/12/2018
Fiesta ST-2 1.5 200PS 3dr PCP £4,712 36 £225.00 £9,286 2.90% 31/12/2018
EcoSport Zetec 1.0 EcoBoost 100PS PCP £4,793 36 £190.00 £6,407 0.00% 31/12/2018
Focus ST-Line 1.0 EcoBoost 140PS PCP £4,464 36 £229.00 £7,677 0% 31/12/2018
All-New Focus ST-Line 1.0 EcoBoost 125PS 5dr PCP £4,745 36 £250 £8,906 1.20% 31/12/2018
C-MAX Zetec 1.0 EcoBoost 125PS PCP £5,860 36 £239 £6,887 1.20% 31/12/2018
Kuga ST-Line 1.5 EcoBoost 150PS FWD PCP £5,691 36 £279 £10,295 0.00% 31/12/2018
Mondeo Titanium Edition 2.0 TDCi 150PS PCP £6,291 36 £259 £9,093 1.20% 31/12/2018
Mondeo Titanium Edition HYBRID Electric 2.0 Tivct 187PS PCP £6,632 36 £269 £10,340 1.20% 31/12/2018
S-MAX ST-Line 2.0 EcoBlue 190PS PCP £9,297.31 36 £289 £12,490.00 1.20% 31/12/2018
Galaxy Titanium 2.0 EcoBlue 150PS PCP £10,257.40 36 £289.00 £11,134.00 1.20% 31/12/2018
Grand Tourneo Connect Titanium 1.5 EcoBlue 120PS PCP £5,635.40 36 £259.00 £9,368.00 1.20% 31/12/2018
Edge ST-Line 2.0 Duratorq TDCi 180PS (with LUX Pack) PCP £10,253.00 36 £289.00 £16,143.00 0.00% 31/12/2018
Tourneo Custom Titanium L1 H1 2.0 EcoBlue 130PS PCP £10,897.15 36 £279 £14,107.00 1.20% 31/12/2018
Ranger Wildtrak 3.2 TDCi 200PS Auto PCP £12,231.63 36 £299 £12,339.00 0.00% 31/12/2018
Mitsubishi              
Mirage 4 Petrol Manual PCP £4,238 36 £125.84 £4,421 5.90% 27/12/2018
ASX 4 Diesel Manual 4WD (Leather) PCP £2,014 36 £385.95 £8,737 5.90% 28/12/2018
Eclipse Cross 2 Petrol Manual 2WD PCP £7,016 36 £114.53 £10,734 5.90% 29/12/2018
Outlander Juro Petrol Auto 4WD PCP £0 36 £474.17 £11,378 5.90% 30/12/2018
Outlander PHEV Juro Petrol Hybrid Auto 4WD PCP £2,500 36 £596.02 £14,426 6% 31/12/2018
Outlander Keiko Diesel Manual 4WD (Leather) PCP £6,948 36 £250 £11,540 5.90% 01/01/2019
L200 4Life Single Cab Diesel Manual 4WD PCP £0 36 £412 £9,239 5.90% 02/01/2019
Shogun SWB Diesel Auto 4WD PCP £0 36 £645 £11,973 5.90% 03/01/2019
Shogun Sport 3 Diesel Auto 4WD PCP £13,100 36 £296 £15,407 5.90% 04/01/2019
Jaguar              
XE 2.0i 200ps R-Sport Auto RWD PCP £5,439 36 £309.00 £14,282 0.00% 31/12/2018
XF 2.0i 250ps R-Sport Auto RWD PCP £5,368 36 £349.00 £18,168 0.00% 31/12/2018
XF Sportbrake 2.0i 250ps Portfolio Auto PCP £4,365 36 £389.00 £21,931 0.00% 31/12/2018
XJ 3.0D 300ps Luxury SWB PCP £9,414 36 £475.00 £23,846 0.00% 31/12/2018
E-Pace R-DYNAMIC 2.0 D150 FWD PCP £5,345 36 £299.00 £18,034 0% 31/12/2018
19 Model Year F-Pace R-Sport 2.0D I4 180PS Auto RWD PCP £8,475 36 £399 £20,597 5.90% 31/12/2018
F-Type Coupe 2.0i 300ps R-Dynamic PCP £8,275 36 £499 £32,287 5.90% 31/12/2018
F-Type Convertible 2.0i 300ps R-Dynamic PCP £13,015 36 £599 £29,236 5.90% 31/12/2018
I-Pace EV400 SE PCP £12,325 36 £559 £40,845 5.90% 31/12/2018