Who came top of the New Car League tables in May 2016
Published Date: 8th Jun 2016
Sales of new cars on the 16 plate registration continue to grow slightly as 2016 continues to look good for the industry.
- A total of 203,585 new cars registered In May 2016
- A steady 2.5% increase over May 2015
- Alternative fuel vehicle demand grows 12% on the previous year
- The new Ford Fiesta is the top best seller again
The UK new car market remained stable once again this year with 4,879 more cars sold in May than this time last year, according to the figures released from the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders)
The figures show that despite the upcoming European Referendum, the new car market is maintaining stability. This is true, more so for businesses as fleet sales are up and private customers are down slightly.
This is following the trend of the past two months whereby total fleet sales are on the rise and public sales declining a little. Fleet sales are 8.8% up in May with individual registrations down 3.0% over the same time last year.
Diesel new cars saw a surge in demand with a 5% increase beating traditional new petrol models that actually went down 0.6%. 101,922 new diesel registrations over 96,031 petrol engine registrations
The growth of new diesel cars comes despite many emission scandals over the past year. Especially with the Volkswagen Golf coming home in 2nd for total car sales in May this year
A total of 1,164,870 cars have now been registered in the UK so far in 2016
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “The new car market in May remained high with compelling offers available on the latest vehicles, but the low growth is further evidence of the market cooling in the face of concerns around economic and political stability. Whether this is the result of some buyers holding off until the current uncertainty is resolved or a sign of a more stable market for new cars remains to be seen.”