NEW CAR DISCOUNTS RISE AS DEALERS CUT UP TO £10K OFF

Car dealers are offering an average of £2,595 off the price of new models, with some cutting as much as £10,000 from certain vehicles, according to new research.

New car discounts have been steadily rising since the start of the year, according to the study by What Car?. By the end of June, the average reduction had reached 7.6 percent as dealers look to st ave off a continued drop in new registrations.

However, some dealers have been offering far more than that. Citroen retailers are leading the way with 11.75 per cent reductions compared with the start of the year while Volkswagen is close behind, with average savings of 11 per cent across its model range.

In fact, vw’sp as sat is the most heavily discounted model-with What Car?’s mystery shoppers securing a 22.62 per cent discount - equivalent to £5,767 - on

the entry-level S trim Passat 1.5 TSI.

Vauxhall dealers offered the third-biggest savings, with three models in the list of 10 best deals and popular models such as the soon-to-be-replaced Astra discounted by more than £4,500 at the end of June.

Premium brands were also found to be offering significant savings on some models, with Mercedes, Volvo and BMW offering reductions of between eight and nine percent, and jaguar dealers cutting 16 percent off the luxury XJ.

At the opposite end of the table budget brand Dacia was found to offer virtually no discount at all. What Car?’s buyers managed to eke an average cut of just 0.96 per cent from dealers, who already sell theuk’ s cheapest car-the £6,995 Sandero.

Other low-price brands Ssangyong and MG were also unlikely to offer buyers much of a discount, while premium manufacturers Land Rover and Lexus offered customers between three and four percent off on average.

The growing discounts come as the new car market continues to struggle. New car registrations fell by 4.1 per cent in July - the fifth consecutive monthly decline - and year-on-year they are down 3.5 percent, according to the society of motor manufacturers and Traders.

While diesel registrations fell 22 per cent in July and plug-in hybrids were down 50 per cent, petrol registrations climbed by 2.6 per cent and pure-electric cars soared 158 per cent, although they still represent just 1.4 per cent of the market.