New car sales up 13% as consumer confidence inches up
New car sales rose 12.7 per cent in the last 12 months prompting industry chiefs to revise their forecasts for future sales up.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) today (6 August) announced new vehicle registrations for the 12 months to July increased to 1.33 million.
SMMT reports quarter on quarter growth throughout the 12 month period, leading it to raise its sales forecast to 2.22 million for the coming 12 months.
Mike Baunton, SMMT interim CEO, says: “Recently, we’ve seen a range of economic indicators point to improving conditions and our raised sales forecast emphasises how positively we view the rest of 2013.”
Ford’s Fiesta model was the top seller both last month and throughout the 12 month period, when total sales of the model where 72,120, according to the data, this was immediately followed by sales of its Focus model which sold over 55,000 during the surveyed period.
Ford’s total car sales were 26,000 last month, up 38.2 per cent from July 2012, with the manufacturer simultaneously claiming 15.8 per cent of the total market – its best performance for four years.
Mark Ovenden, Ford Britain’s managing director and chairman, says: “Car sales are continuing their positive trend in the UK and Ford sales are ahead of overall market growth with private customers driving up our share of more profitable retail sales.”
Last year, the manufacturer revealed to Marketing Week that it was to extend the length of pre-launch marketing activity for future models instead of intense “episodic” bursts of marketing activity ahead of a vehicle launch.
