* New car registrations fell 36.8% in November to 100,333 units.
* Year-to-date volume is down 10.7% to 2,023,104 units.
* Diesel market share achieved record high of 47.0% in November.
* Private market particularly weak in November, down 45.1%.
?November has been another difficult month for the motor industry and whilst some consumers may have delayed their purchases to take advantage of the recent VAT reductions, overall demand continues to fall,? said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. ?Urgent action is now required to ease access to credit and finance, both to support consumers and meet the cash-flow needs of the industry.?
www.smmt.co.uk/articles/article.cfm?articleid=18615
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news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7713309.stm
The BBC has a bird-view of the cars stored at the Docks in Kent.
Looks like there is one for everyone, lots of vans too!
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Could have saved the licence fee-payers' money by going to Google Earth and got the same aerial shot for free. Probably would have been the same number of cars in the past two or three years, given it is used by Peugeot, Citroen, VW Group, Daihatsu, Porsche, and Honda
Edited by colinh on 04/12/2008 at 16:07
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I think it's quite odd that Volvo are recording some of the smallest drops of all the manufacturers. For the whole year, they're still recording a sales *increase*. Not many can say that.
I can't help but wonder whether there's a big stack of pre-reg Volvos somewhere, with Ford trying to push up the sales figures to make Volvo Cars look a more attractive buy...
Hmmm...
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I think it's quite odd that Volvo are recording some of the smallest drops of all the manufacturers. >>
I wonder if it's because Volvos are traditionally popular amongst retired 'professionals', many of whom will still have their substantial pensions.
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Volvo is unusual. It's a premium brand, but not a particularly aspirational one. It's popular with middle class cash buyers who've owned Volvos since the dawn of time, and will always buy a new one every three years because they always have, and can afford to do so. I read somewhere that Volvo enjoy a level of brand loyalty that eludes their competition.
Unlike other premium brands like, for example BMW or more recently Audi, who have enjoyed a sales boom off the back of cheap lease deals tailored for a market opting out of increasing company car taxation, and taking the cash. As the credit crunch bites, these deals won't be cheap, if they're available at all.
Cheers
DP
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I think a lot people are panicking for no good reason purely because of the doom and gloom forecast by the media.
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A case of shoot the messenger ?
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Mazda are doing well at the moment - that is a relative statement.
YTD sales down 2.6%.
Not surprising really when you look at their strategy.
Lighter, stronger cars that are fun to drive, well designed and very reliable.
I think they are the new Honda if you know what I mean.
Honda are going through a daft moment IMO - I do admire them for pushing the design boundaries but to try and push the cars up market is not a good idea and says to me that they and companies like Saab don't really know what the up market stuff really means - particularly in the UK - people do not buy these cars because they are well engineered - they are more often than not just buying the badge and the associated image.
There is no doubt in my mind that if a Martian landed in the UK and looked at a 3 series and an Accord, then he would drive of in the Accord because it is a better engineered and more reliable car.
I am pleased for Mazda though - clearly they have got a strategy that works.
Edited by Pendlebury on 05/12/2008 at 17:29
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Part of the problem is cars now last too long, my car is 13 soon and although has a few minor problems it is mechanicaly sound, so there will be a lot of people driving old perfectly sound cars and now think its just a luxery to change. One of my customers has a Volvo S90 and he has owned it 9 years, he is rich, his car has 200k on the clock but he sees no reason at all to change.
So these days a new car is a luxery, as cars now don't rust to death after 6 years, in times of a recession people will just keep their old cars.
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Volvo's big asset is that they have about 400,000 customers per year who will loyally buy a new Volvo and not even really consider anything else. Even if they do go to another manufacturer for a while they always seem to end up back in the fold.
Their problem (and for most manufacturers it would be a nice problem to have) is that expanding beyond that 400,000 as Ford have pressured them to do is very difficult to do without losing their loyal base at the same time.
Interestingly, in my experience, Volvo buyers seem to have the lowest finance customers of any brand. Most seem to buy with cash, run it into the ground and buy another.
They have their problems though. IMO the recent Ford derived Volvos are not as good as they should be, their two largest markets (UK & US) are in deep recession and the exchange rate has sent losses spiralling.
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"think a lot people are panicking for no good reason purely because of the doom and gloom forecast by the media. "
The media has in my view largely shown a lamentable lack of insight into how bad things are going to get.
Think 1972-74 but worse and 1929-32 but better.
That in my view is waht we are heading - sorry - rushing towards.
After all if A Darling says "worst in 60 years" and he is hardly a man given to overstatement - then it's going to be awful.
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I've just heard of a sizeable Land Rover Dealership that will be no more in January 2009. Complete closure and no transfer of jobs.
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I read on talkingmotors.com that Lookers is closing its Land Rover dealership in Hadleigh, Essex on December 23. 60 staff have now "entered a one month consultation period."
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Give it time and those M&S type 20% off sales will be happening to car dealers. Once one does it the others will be forced to follow. Then, in time, 20% will not be enough.
People really cannot yet understand how dire 2009 is going to be and what affect deflation will have on prices. Deflation is what is driving down the prices in the High Street and the options for any business that wishes to sell, be it M&S with socks and knickers or Currys with TVs and X-boxes or car dealers with whatever, is to cut prices and to cut them dramatically.
Already people have twigged that prices are going to drop and have effectively gone on a buyers' strike whilst trying to pay off their debt. Cars are just going to sit there and rust for years. Thousands of these cars sat at ports and in fields will most likley never be sold.
And the car companies want Public money so they can make more over-priced lumps of metals that will eventually also sit and rust in a field somewhere.
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So do we read that as a pro-tem postponement of the new surfer-dude-babe-magnet-mobile then Tawse ? Seems a shame really. I for one was eager to hear of its effectiveness this side of Christmas. Might have given hope and succour to many an ageing lothario...........
;-)
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So do we read that as a pro-tem postponement of the new surfer-dude-babe-magnet-mobile then Tawse ? Seems a shame really. I for one was eager to hear of its effectiveness this side of Christmas. Might have given hope and succour to many an ageing lothario........... ;-)
I have to buy between now and the middle of Jan as lack of a car is restricting my life and stopping me from getting out and about to go for walks, etc. So, whilst I believe big price drops are yet to come, I will most likely reporting back here within a few weeks of my purchse.
Still haven't a clue as to what I am going to buy though.
May I suggest you buy yourself and your SWMBO a singapore sling for Christmas - they can have a quite unique affect on the ladies!
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Singapore sling ? I think I'd probably prefer not to know what that is on the assumption it's not a cocktail !?
You could buy my old Mondeo estate or one like it. Very comfortable and ideal for seaside visits....... ( Cheap too )
;-)
Seriously, I have a friend who is 6'5" and he says he is very comfortable in either a Mondeo Mk3 or a BMW 5 series.
I expect though that you are right in thinking that there will be some highly attractive deals on new cars in due course.
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 06/12/2008 at 15:50
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Singapore sling ? I think I'd probably prefer not to know what that is on the assumption it's not a cocktail !?
It is a sort of cocktail but beware sore knees.
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Original recipe
Standard Mix
30ml gin
15ml Heering Cherry Liqueur
7.5ml D.O.M Benedictine
7.5ml Cointreau
120ml Pineapple juice
15ml fresh lime juice
10ml grenadine
dash of Angostura bitters
Garnish: maraschino cherry, pineapple chunk, and orange slice
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