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MANY dealers will look back at 2018 as one of the most challenging years of new car sales, explained Philip Nothard from Cox Automotive at the VRA Conference in Solihull, Birmingham, November 22, 2018. 

But at least they can look forward to a stronger used car market.

In his speech, ‘Where is the market heading?’, Nothard said March plate change saw the market down 15.7%, while registrations were down by 20.5% in September. Meanwhile diesel had dropped over 30% in the first 10 months of the year.

“Looking to a 6.3% decline in new car sales overall is not a bad effort given the headwinds that the industry has faced,” said Nothard.

However, the used car market had been much more positive.

“There’s been growth in this area. And while there has been a slight drop in the total used cars sold, it’s been a good result.

“Our forecast for Q1 2019 is positive v 2018. We expect 2.5% above Q1 2018 with some 2.08 million used car transactions expected.”

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