Car sales in the slow lane
Are you keen to buy a new car but putting it on hold because of worries about the cost of living crisis? Or are you ready to buy from a showroom right now, but put off by longer waiting times for a new cars? These are the key dilemmas consumers, manufacturers and dealerships now face. It’s especially challenging with lots of exciting new cars coming down the line, including the new sportier Kia XCeed, from £23,000 to £33,000 with a range-topping GT-Line S and upgraded plug-in hybrid, on sale from early next month with deliveries from autumn.
New research by consumer magazine and website WhatCar? found that more than a third of would-be car buyers are delaying their purchase due to cost-ofliving crisis. Also more than a third of customers have reduced their budgets — about a quarter by between 10 and 15 per cent and almost as many cutting it by 20 per cent or more.
The research also found four in ten buyers have changed either the make or model they’re considering to buy due to the cost-of-living crisis, with seven in ten planning to buy a different make and model altogether. Among those who’d already bought a car, a fifth said the cost of living had impacted their decision. Of those, nearly two-thirds said they had bought a different make and model to what they wanted at first.
Of those who’d already bought a used car, about one in seven said they’d initially intended to buy a new car. But among those planning to buy a used car, more than one in five said they had initially looked to buy a brand new car but decided against it.
WhatCar? editor Steve Huntingford said: ‘rising inflation is impacting the automotive sector with serious consequences. Our research shows a significant share of buyers are revising their budgets to offset the rising cost of living.’
Meanwhile, figures from Close Brothers Motor Finance show nearly four in ten of those considering a new car have been put off from buying at all because of supply delays.