U.K. January New-Car Deliveries Hit 8-Year High

The U.K. new-car market saw its 35^th straight month of year-on-year sales increases as the new year began with a 6.7% improvement to 164,856 units, the strongest January since 2007.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says the company-car market was particularly strong, up 18.1% to 89,640 units, the best performance since December 2013, while alternatively fueled vehicle deliveries soared 60.8% to 4,598 units.

SMMT CEO Mike Hawes says the results mark an encouraging start to the year after a strong 2014.

“January saw increased uptake of both petrol (gasoline) and diesel cars, while demand for alternatively fueled vehicles continued its surge,” he says in a statement.

“Registrations of plug-in vehicles were particularly strong as consumers responded to a greater choice of makes and models delivering lower running costs.

“Last year’s 9.3% rise in the overall market was fueled by stronger-than-expected economic confidence, and for 2015 we expect to see some leveling off throughout the year. Demand is back to pre-recession levels following record-breaking growth,” Hawes says.

The Ford Fiesta led January sales with 8,674 units, with the Vauxhall Corsa next (6,879), followed by the Ford Focus (4,824).

Ford sold 21,480 cars during the month, 4,545 units ahead of its nearest rival, as it took an early lead in its bid to claim its 39th consecutive year as U.K. car-sales leader and 50th straight year of commercial-vehicle sales leadership.

The Fiesta result put it in the lead for a run at a seventh straight year as the region’s top seller as its January sales exceeded those of all but five rival car makers.

Ford of Britain Chairman and Managing Director Mark Ovenden credits the strong start to 2015 to a continued investment in attractive products and industry-leading technologies.

“Following the complete revamp of our CV range last year, we will renew around 60% of our passenger cars this year,” he says in a statement.

Sales of Ford CVs rose 27.9% year-on-year to 6,481 units and the Ford Transit led the CV sector, as it has done since its launch in 1965.

Among U.K. fleet buyers, the Corsa was on top with 3,539 deliveries, followed by the Focus (3,529), Fiesta (3,119), Volkswagen Golf (3,073) and Nissan Qashqai (2,665).

Fleet sales have been rising consistently since 2012 as U.K. business confidence has bounced back since the recession.  Cars registered to fleets reached 1,178,416 in 2014, up from 882,415 in 2009.

SMMT says 2011 was a strong year for fleet registrations and with most companies on a 3-year replacement cycle, cars registered at that time now are due to be replaced.

A fleet registration refers to a vehicle registered to a company operating 25 or more vehicles.

The commercial-vehicle market grew for the ninth consecutive month, rising 23.2% to 24,567 units.

SMMT says pent-up demand saw truck sales jump 38.6% to 2,518 units, while the van segment grew 21.7% to 22,049.

Hawes says the increase in the number of van sales reflects raised levels of business confidence and demand for a range of efficient, well-equipped models.

The growth spread to the finance sector, with the Finance and Leasing Assn. saying consumer new-car finance volumes rose 13% last year to a record 897,593. The percentage of private new-car sales financed through dealerships by FLA members reached a new high of 76.1%.