Scots buck the new car trend 06 | 01 | 2012
SCOTLAND BUCKED THE trend across the rest of the UK with sales of new cars in December falling by just 3.6%, compared with the UK average of 3.7%. And Scots car bosses are confident a combination of new models and finance incentives will boost cars sales in 2012.
“There's no denying 2012 is going to be another difficult year," Douglas Robertson, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, said.
"But we are aware there will be a significant number of new and updated models becoming available during the year.
“This, together with the improved fuel efficiency that these new models will offer, should help to encourage consumers into showrooms.
"This together with the improved fuel efficiency that these new models will offer should help to encourage consumers into SMTA members’ showrooms.
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“We also anticipate UK government action to assist consumers with financing facilities during the forthcoming year.”
While Scots sales hit 9489 units in December, the total number of new cars sold in Scotland for the whole of 2011 was 166,877. That compared with 175,383 in 2010, representing a drop of 4.85%.
The UK figure of 1,941,253 represented a fall of 4.42% when compared with the 2,030,846 new cars in 2010.
All nine of Scotland's regions saw a fall in new car registrations through 2011, with the Borders suffering most, down 12.68% (2966 new cars in 2010 compared to 2590 last year).
The best performer was Tayside, which saw a drop of only 1.19%, 11,874 sales last year compared with 12,017 in 2010.
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Strathclyde, which accounts for the vast majority of new car sales, was down 5.03%, 82,314 registrations last year compared with 86,671 in 2010
The Vauxhall Corsa topped the 20111 sales chart in Scotland, followed by the Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus. The Vauxhall Astra and Nissan Qashqai rounded out the top five.
Vauxhall was also the top performing manufacturer in Scotland, taking 14.94% of the market. Ford (12.19%), VW (7.52%), Nissan (5.92%) and Renault (5.61%) completing the top five.
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Jim McGill