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The November new car sales figures rank as the worst fall in recent memory.
While the final quarter of the year is always tough for car retailers, as customers’ attention inevitably turns towards Christmas, this does not diminish the seriousness of the scale of the drop.
Last month every single car brand in the UK experienced year-on-year sales losses pushing the market down by 37 per cent.
The fall immediately prompted the SMMT to reforecast the year-end downwards to 2.1 million.
Whether customers were delaying their purchases to benefit from this month’s VAT cut remains to be seen.
Certainly with average savings of £250 on the price of a new car canny buyers could be excused for staying away.
Hopefully last week’s interest rate cut to 2 per cent will also help beleaguered buyers.
It’s now a waiting game to see how much lower the market will fall before some much needed stability is seen.
The first quarter of 2009 will show just how much impact the Bank of England and the government’s moves have actually helped retailers and buyers.