UK Car Sales up again in November (2012)

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has revealed that new car sales grew again in the UK in November – up by 11.3 per cent.

At some point, new car sales in the UK must surely start to ease as the economic pressure bite, but so far in 2012 we’ve had an inexorable rise in numbers.

The latest figures for November show new car sales (well, to be precise, new car registrations – which include Pre-Reg cars) up by an impressive 11.3 per cent, following on from a rise of 12.1 per cent in October, with private buyers driving sales rather than fleet.

It also looks like Ford has been pushing the new Focus hard (or they’ve finally got supply up to speed) as the Ford Focus grabbed the top sales spot for November, narrowly beating the Fiesta in to second place by just 12 sales.

The rise and rise of the UK car market also sees the UK overtaking France as the second biggest new car market in Europe, behind Germany, as the Euro zone car markets contract as Europe’s economies are in an even bigger mess than the UK’s.

Paul Everitt, SMMT boss, said:

New car registrations rose 11.3% in November, positioning the UK new car market as the second largest in Europe.
The upward trend has been driven by private retail customers. The outlook for 2013 remains challenging, but vehicle manufacturers and their dealers will continue to work hard to attract motorists to their showrooms and deliver outstanding value.

The SMMT says the UK new car market has grown to 1,921,052 cars so far in 2012, up by 5.4 per cent on 2011.