No second wind for used car sales
USED cars sales in July, August and September dropped for the second consecutive quarter.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed quarter three (Q3) saw 1,785,447 cars go to new owners.
It was the first time since 2015 the Q3 total had dropped beneath two million units.
There were 145,178 used car transactions in Scotland.
Sales of used fully-electric models climbed 44.1 per cent to 16,775 units.
However, petrol and diesel models continued to dominate the second hand market, accounting for 1,708,299 transactions. MPV sales had the highest sector drop of 18.5 per cent.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “Given the short supply of new cars due largely to sustained chip shortages, a declining used car market comes as little surprise, although it’s great to see a growing number of used buyers able to get into an electric car.
“The demand is clearly there but to feed it we need a buoyant new car market, which means giving buyers confidence to invest.”
Top 10 used cars in Q3: 1, Ford Fiesta, 74,892; 2, Vauxhall Corsa, 58,305; 3, Volkswagen Golf, 55,587; 4, Ford Focus, 54,325; 5, Vauxhall Astra, 42,321; 6, Mini, 40,970; 7, BMW 3 Series, 38,968; 8, Volkswagen Polo, 35,633; 9, Audi A3, 29,483; 10, Nissan Qashqai, 29,243.
Top 10 used car colours in Q3: 1, Black, 382,517; 2, Grey, 292,808; 3, Blue, 292,315; 4, Silver/Aluminium, 282,160; 5, White, 260,589; 6, Red, 181,299; 7, Green, 30,263; 8, Orange, 14,032; 9, Yellow, 9,571; 10, Beige/ Buff, 9,438.