What was the best-selling car in February?
Thu, 04 Mar 2010
Last month's new car sales figures showed an increase in registrations of 26.4 per cent, according to the latest figures from the SMMT.
During February a total of 68,686 cars were registered, which is an increase of 14,327 on February 2009. Although welcome, the rise follows a particularly poor February 2009, being the shortest month of the year, it's traditionally the weakest for car sales. Plus many buyers put off buying until the March registration plate change. It was 1.9 per cent lower than February 2008.
The trend of small cars dominating the top 10 continues. The largest car in the Top 10 was the BMW 3-Series, while the largest cars from Vauxhall and Ford are the Astra and Focus.
The SMMT forecasts that 2010 is expected to recover slightly, with volumes expected to push above 360,000 units for the new ‘10' plate. Over the past decade, March has been the strongest month for new car registrations, accounting for 17.8% of annual registrations.
Much of the March recovery will be attributable to scrappage and the scheme accounted for 19.6% of the market in February. Final orders through the scheme must be made by the end of March, or sooner if funds run out. The scheme's impact will diminish during Q2 with market decline expected in the second half of 2010.
It also predicts that new car demand will be building up, after a sustained period of hold-off, but with economic recovery still fragile and uncertainty over the impacts of the Budget in March and a general election in Spring, the outlook for registrations in 2010 is subdued and cautious, with an expected decline of almost 10% to 1.82 million units.
February 2010 Top Ten
1 Ford Fiesta 3,236
2 Ford Focus 3,035
3 Volkswagen Golf 2,586
4 Vauxhall Astra 2,524
5 Vauxhall Corsa 2,391
6 Hyundai i10 1,938
7 VW Polo 1,900
8 BMW 3 Series 1,599
9 Kia Picanto 1,573
10 Peugeot 207 1,422
Sales figures in full
MARQUE Feb 2010 2010 to date Abarth 33 101 Alfa Romeo 224 598 Aston Martin 27 79 Audi 2,957 10,849 Bentley 26 107 BMW 3,141 8,359 Cadillac 3 6 Chevrolet 500 1,612 Chrysler 22 140 Citroen 2,701 7,650 Corvette 0 0 Daihatsu 27 49 Daimler 0 0 Dodge 30 51 Fiat 1,752 5,724 Ford 9,915 32,043 Honda 1,663 5,994 Hummer 0 0 Hyundai 3,007 10,279 Infiniti 1 13 Jaguar 266 1,307 Jeep 89 259 Kia 3,366 8,396 Land Rover 804 3,322 Lexus 91 735 Lotus 18 44 Mazda 1,587 4,449 Mercedes-Benz 1,923 6,094 MG 8 30 MINI 973 3,108 Mitsubishi 396 938 Nissan 2,098 7,851 Opel 0 0 Perodua 29 86 Peugeot 3,533 11,912 Porsche 106 566 Proton 50 117 Renault 3,559 9,402 Saab 84 212 SEAT 904 3,196 Skoda 1,574 4,428 smart 336 760 Ssangyong 18 31 Subaru 69 287 Suzuki 778 1,839 Toyota 3,439 10,785 Vauxhall 7,950 23,953 Volkswagen 7,132 22,099 Volvo 1,378 4,024 Other British 64 161 Other Imports 35 120 Total 68,686 214,165
