Car sales race ahead to hit a record high
A RECORD number of cars were sold in booming Britain during 2015, official figures are set to reveal today.
More than 2.6m vehicles left UK showrooms last year – topping the previous high in 2003 – the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) will announce.
Sales were boosted by cheap credit, low interest rates and competitive deals.
And it comes as booming British supercar-maker McLaren announces up to 250 new jobs and a second shift at its high-tech factory in Woking, Surrey, as it too reported ‘another record year’.
McLaren Automotive delivered more than 1,650 cars in 2015, continuing a rising trend since the first car rolled off its line in 2010.
Motor industry insiders said the 2015 figures for total car sales had been buoyed by a ‘better than expected December’ in what is normally a flat month.
The record has also been achieved despite a significant drop in sales of Volkswagen-branded cars in the wake of the ‘dieselgate’ scandal after the German car-maker was revealed in September to be fiddling its emissions figures.
Market leader Ford is understood to have sold around 335,000 cars with Vauxhall hitting 269,000 and Volkswagen 223,000.
The last UK sales record was set in 2003 when 2.57m vehicles were sold. Sales then slumped to under 2m in 2009 and 2011 as the effects of the recession took their toll. however industry experts believe the record sales will prove a high-point for the foreseeable future, with sales cooling off over the next two years to around 2.58m by 2018.
UK car production in 2015 is also expected to exceed the 1.53m achieved in 2014, with four out of every five cars built in the UK exported abroad.
The soaring sales at McLaren Automotive puts it well on track to more than double annual volume to over 4,000 cars a year by 2018.
The 250 new jobs will be in the production, quality and logistics departments and increase the current headcount by about 40pc.
McLaren launched five new models in 2015 and said sales are being boosted by production from November of its ‘Sports Series’ of roadlegal sports cars that perform as well on the highway as they do on the track.
More than half the components and parts used in each car are manufactured in the UK, boosting jobs with suppliers.
Chief executive Mike Flewitt said that the launch of its new Sports Series of cars was ‘a step-change’ for the firm and by 2017 will account for around two-thirds of total annual sales volumes.
he added: ‘The reception to the new Sports Series and the levels of customer orders tells us that now is the time to invest in the second shift and 250 new production team members to ensure that we are able to reach our assembly objectives once the full model range is available.’
In June McLaren Automotive announced it had reinvested 20pc of its annual turnover of £475.5m – or about £92m – into research and development.