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So how was your March? Judging by the official SMMT figures the new 15-plate market did extremely well with volumes up 6% year on year as nearly half a million cars were registered making it the biggest month since 1999. But before anyone starts partying like it’s 1999, what do the figures mean?
Clearly it was a good month for the fleet sector, which grew 11.6% in the month and now accounts for the majority of all Q1 registrations. The growth of fleet is a reflection of genuine business confidence, which is good news for the economy; although it’s worth remembering these figures also include the fast churn daily rental companies.
Retail demand for the month grew at a lower rate of 2.7% as buyers continued to make the most of some astonishing carmaker supported PCP schemes, including one for the Hyundai i10 for just £69 a month. However, we all know that Q1 is the most important quarter of the year and a proportion of these sales will be self-registrations as dealers closed in on their manufacturer targets.
Despite 37 months of consecutive growth, the SMMT still cautiously expects registrations to close the year on a par with 2014, however KPMG is taking a more hawkish view predicting growth of 4%, which would push the market over 2.5 million units for the first time since 2004. At this stage the latter is looking feasible, especially with the collapse of the car market in Russia, which will prompt factories to step up their right hand drive production.