New car registrations FALL in October. Is this ‘VW DieselGate’ fallout?

New car registrations in the UK fell in October 2015 – the first time for 43 months – with VW down almost 10 per cent and falls for Ford and Vauxhall.

We’ve got so used to new car registration in the UK rising every month (they’ve been heading inexorably upwards since early 2012) that an actual fall in sales for October 2015 is proper car news.

Actual sales figures for October show a total of 177,664 new cars were registered, a fall of a little over 2,000 compared to October 2015, with a small decrease – 0.5 per cent – in diesel car sales and a slight increase – 0.2 per cent – in petrol car sales.

But despite the October drop, new car sales have risen by 6.4 per cent this year, and sales of alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFV – hybrids, BEVs etc.) – were up an impressive 13.8 per cent in October, and took a market share of 3 per cent.

Perhaps what we can deduce from the October figures is that some new car buyers have been put off jumping in to a new car because of the furore surrounding the Volkswagen Defeat Device scandal. But if that is the case, it’s not just VW feeling the effect.

VW sales were down in October by 9.84 per cent (but so too were sales for Ford and Vauxhall) with both SEAT and Skoda posting lower sales – although Audi was up over 2 per cent.

It’s probably going to be a few more months before we can really say UK car buyers are holding back in the light of the emissions scams, and whether VW sales will continue to fall.

But it’s pointing that way.