Concerns around supply shortages of new vehicles after August 31 due to vehicle testing rules may be unwarranted, according to Cap HPI.

The vehicle data company said that the recertification of vehicles under the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) ‘Second Act’ is an administrative exercise that won’t require physical re-testing of vehicles.

The 'Second Act' means all manufacturers must ensure new models are 'certified' to show they have passed the more stringent WLTP tests before they can be placed on the market. 

Beth Davies, product manager at Cap HPI, said: "We have seen widespread reporting of concerns around supply shortages in September but find this is extremely unlikely.

“The WLTP 'second act' certification is simply a revision of the existing WLTP testing regime. Vehicles will not be physically tested but instead processed through revised algorithms and confirmed as re-certified."

The revisions will take into account the introduction of real driving emissions (RDE) at the type-approval stage and also the new evaporative emissions test. This additional test takes into account the technological progress in the control of evaporative emissions from petrol vehicles and adapts that procedure to the WLTP test procedure.

Cap HPI has reflected the ‘second act’ in its new vehicle data and this will be fed into wider products from the company, including Valuation Anywhere and Cap Connect.

Any existing vehicles will continue to be shown as 'NEDC Correlated'.

The changes mean all new vehicles must be certified under the second act test by August 31 to be able to be sold from September 1, 2019.