New Car Sales in January best for 8 years

Photo Ford Fiesta best selling car January 2015

Ford Fiesta (pictured) top seller as New Car Sales in January best for 8 years

New car registrations in January reached 164,856, the highest total since 2007 and the 35th month in a row new car registrations have risen.

New car registrations in 2014 reached their highest level for a decade as the seemingly inexorable rise in numbers continued, but the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) cautioned that they expected to see registrations level-off in 2015.

That may well happen, but if new car registrations in January are anything to go by, it won’t be just yet.

January 2015 has been the best start to car sales since pre-recession 2007, with a total of 164,856 units registered in the month – the 35th rise in a row.

Registrations were up overall by 6.7 per cent compared to January 2014, but the rise was driven by the fleet market – up by 18.1 per cent on the previous year – which means private sales actually fell back slightly.

Of note is a big rise in the sale of alternatively-fuelled vehicles, with a 60.8 per cent rise from January 2014. But that needs context: the rise was from 2,859 in 2014 to 4,598 – just 2.8 per cent of sales or one in 36 of new car registrations.

Mike Hawes, SMMT boss, said:

January saw increased uptake of both petrol and diesel cars, while demand for alternatively-fuelled vehicles continued its surge with registrations rising by 60.8%. 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 fuelled by stronger than expected economic confidence and, for 2015, we expect to see some levelling off throughout the year: demand is back to pre-recession levels following record-breaking growth.

As we’ve become used to, the Ford Fiesta topped the sales list in January, but the Vauxhall Corsa managed to snaffle second place from the Ford Focus and the new Mercedes C-Class hitting the top ten list in seventh place.