New car sales fall 22 per cent in October

New car sales fell by 22.2 per cent in October to 131,495 units, the fourth consecutive month of decline and the steepest since May 2009.

The market, however, remains 4.8 per cent up over the first ten months of the year, at 1,767,154 units.

The SMMT said that further declines are likely in November and December but the full year sales would finish 1.5 per cent ahead of 2009. Excluding scrappage, the October performance was on par with last October’s volume.

“There was a significant fall in October’s new car registrations, reflecting the impact of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme (SIS) at this time last year and some deterioration in consumer confidence.

“Total new car registrations in 2010 are forecast to be 2.026 million units, 1.5 per cent up on 2009,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive.

“The industry expects the coming months to be challenging with slow, but steady, economic growth feeding through to improved confidence and demand during 2011.”

Diesel car registrations rose by 3.8 per cent as market share climbed to a record 54.7 per cent, 13.7 percentage points higher than a year ago when demand for small, cheaper petrol cars was fuelled by the scrappage scheme.

Registrations of alternatively fuelled cars jumped 13.7 per cent in the month and are up 51.3 per cent over the first ten months of the year.

October’s decline was in line with SMMT expectations for the month. The full year forecast was revised upwards to 2.026 million units last month, a 1.5 per cent rise over 2009.

The Ford Fiesta was again the best selling model, but registrations of supermini and mini segment cars have fallen sharply in recent months.