April sales down
You only had to think about it for a little while to realise that what I’m about to say now was inevitable.
With the 17-registration numberplates coming into force on March 1 and a revised Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rate applicable from April 1, large numbers of new vehicles were always going to be sold in the preceding months. Now those dates have been and gone, sales of new vehicles for the rest of April were down considerably year-on-year (YOY). No surprise there.
Hybrids and low-emission vehicles (ie, those producing between 1 and 100g/km) that had a zero VED rate prior to April are now being charged a £140 per annum premium. Obviously, VED of even just £12 a month is enough to put some customers off buying a new car.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) show that vehicle sales to date in the private sector – that’s you and me – fell by 28.4% YOY. That’s a huge amount, even taking into account the EU referendum back in June last year, which had already left the British economy in an unstable state. Overall sales YOY for diesel passenger cars fell by 27.3%, while sales of petrol fell 13.1%; alternative-fuelled vehicles did better with a small drop of 1.3%.
In 2016, the market share for diesel vehicles was 47.6% against 49.1% for petrol. Thus far for 2017, diesels are claiming 44.1% of sales against 51.9% for petrol. We will probably see a further downturn in diesel sales through the rest of the year as the Government continues to insist that diesels are damaging the environment.
That’s all very well, but what about diesel vans, trucks and buses? The problem with these types of vehicles, especially if you use one for business, is that no petrol alternatives are available – the manufacturers simply don’t offer them. If Government plans continue in the direction they’re travelling, this will need to change, although I can’t ever see trucks being fitted with spark-ignition engines.
Interestingly, the SMMT figures also show that the Ford Focus dropped down to fifth place in the best-selling new car list for April. Here’s the Top Ten: 1. Ford Fiesta 2. Nissan Qashqai 3. Mercedes-benz C-class 4. Mercedes-benz A-class 5. Ford Focus 6. Vauxhall Astra 7. Volkswagen Golf 8. Audi A3 9. Volkswagen Polo 10. BMW 1-Series It’s also interesting that sales of Mercedes are outstripping both Audi and BMW in the premium sector.