27.9%
Proportion of visitors to whatcar.com who have set September as their
buying deadline market than most, but he’s cautious about being drawn on predicting trends based on four weeks of sales during the most turbulent period of his career. “We take it day by day,” he says when quizzed on changing tastes.
However, What Car?’s polling of buyers reveals that at its peak, during lockdown 49% of respondents said they intended to buy a more environmentally friendly car than they had previously considered, with 26% saying they were more inclined to consider a hybrid or electric car, and 9% saying they were more inclined
A month ago, it seemed near certain that some sort of stimulus package would be introduced, with details being leaked to the press to test the waters, but the rhetoric coming out of the government has shifted dramatically over that period.
In a statement to Autocar, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy highlighted its existing environmental incentives and said: “We have no current plans to change the existing incentives or to introduce a scrappage scheme.”
Contrary though it may seem, even that statement may provide some boost for car sales: What Car?’s polling
What’s next?
Most predict the full impact of the coronavirus won’t start to unfold until September, but the truth is that nobody knows.
Until then, the industry remains on tenterhooks, largely assuming that at some point a crash will become a reality as furlough unwinds and mass redundancies become necessary.
Optimists point to the fact that those in employment will continue to be well insulated, while pessimists say the scale of the predicted job losses will be too great not to drag the economy down. For now, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders data, based on manufacturer predictions, suggests a 25% year-on-year fall in the market – disastrous if not catastrophic figures ahead of potential disruptions from Brexit.
Autocar Business is our industry-focused brand, delving deeper into the business of the automotive world. Sign up for our regular bulletin at autocar.co.uk/business-signup.