Gas guzzlers biggest sellers of 2006 despite green campaign

Growing concerns around fuel guzzling cars affecting the environment failed to materially change the car buying public’s habits during 2006, according the latest used car sales statistics from Experian.

As the UK saw used car sales fall by 0.8 per cent during 2006, used cars classed as sports, luxury, sports utility vehicle (SUVs) and multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) – cars that tend to have bigger engines and are likely to use more fuel – were the only ones to see an increase in sales.

Kirk Fletcher, Managing Director of Experian’s Automotive division, said: “Despite larger vehicles, such as SUVs, coming under heavy criticism last year for the harm they cause to the environment, the downsizing that had been expected does not appear to have taken place.

“However, that doesn’t mean that 2007 will follow the same path. It is worth bearing in mind that during quarter four last year, the market share traditionally belonging to cars classed as lower mediums (such as a Ford Focus) was taken over by the smaller segment B cars (such as the Vauxhall Corsa). This is the first time one of the smaller segments has taken over in terms of sales.

“And with the recent Budget announcement that drivers of the most polluting vehicles will face a 30 per cent increase in road tax, it will be interesting to see how sales go over the following year.”

Age
Sales of cars aged between one and three years, which had been sporadic during quarter four, have seen a downward trend in the last two years. Sales of used cars aged three to six years old had seen increasing sales since 1999, but fell for the first time last year.

The only used cars to see an increase in sales were those aged between six to nine years old (0.4 per cent rise). Sales of this age range have risen each year during quarter four since 1999.

Used cars falling into the three to six and six to nine years age brackets were the only ones to increase in sales in the last two years while the rest have fallen.

Segments
Used cars classed as segment B held their market share in terms of sales during October, November and December last year. This is the first time sales of segment B have overtaken the lower medium segment, which had always been the highest selling segment in the UK in terms of market share during this quarter.

The only segments to see an increase in sales during quarter four were those classed as segment A (e.g., Citroen C2), luxury (e.g., Audi A8), MPVs (e.g., Ford Galaxy), sports (e.g., Porsche Boxter) and SUVs (e.g., Mitsubishi Shogan).

The biggest fall in the sales came from both the upper medium segment (e.g., Toyota Avensis) and the lower medium segment (e.g., Fiat Stilo).

Sales of used executive cars (such as the BMW 5 Series) have been gradually falling since 2002, except for a slight rise in 2004, and, in quarter four 2006, reached their lowest point since Experian started collating this data 1999.

Kirk added: “Although MPVs, sports cars and SUVs have continued to increase in sales each year, the used car sales statistics still indicate a slow, but definite shift towards more environmentally friendly cars. The last two years have seen sales of other larger engine cars, such as executive, upper medium and lower medium models, fall. In contrast, sales of segment A cars increased in the last quarter of 2006 and segment B cars became the highest selling segments in the UK.”

Marque
Despite holding its position as one of the top ten highest selling marques in the UK, Rover continues to see the steepest declines in used car sales each quarter.

Sales of the highest selling used marque, Ford, fell by 6.1 per cent compared to 2005 – the second highest fall in sales among the top ten used marques. Ford sales during this quarter have been falling since 2003, but 2005 saw the highest drop when sales fell by 8.4 per cent. During 2006 as a whole, sales of used Fords fell by 6.4 per cent – a more rapid decline than in 2005 (3.1 per cent).

Nissan recorded the third highest fall in sales for quarter four.

Volkswagen saw the highest increase for the quarter (rising 0.7 per cent), but BMW saw the highest increase in used car sales for the year as a whole (rising 5.6 per cent).

Kirk concluded: “2005 was the first year the industry had seen a drop in the number of used cars sold and 2006 saw sales drop further still, following the pattern we have been seeing the new car industry since 2004. However, it was interesting to see that the fall in sales during 2006 was not as harsh as expected, considering that the number of business failures in the automotive industry during 2006 reached its highest point for several years.

“This indicates that consumer spending is starting to pick up and that dealers have been attaching various incentives to their stock to pull in the customers. 2007 has started well in terms of new car sales. However, consumers are still cautious and with the likelihood of another possible interest rate rise in May, we have yet to see if the sales volumes will hold up.”