December was a pretty awful month for Scotland’s car industry.
Figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show new car sales were down almost a quarter over the same month in 2009.
Across Scotland, just 9483 new sales were registered last month, against 13,083 in December 2009. In Courier country, dealerships did even worse than the national average, with Tayside registering a 33% fall in sales from 927 to 624 units.
Sales in Fife were down from 668 to 482, a drop of 28%.
The Vauxhall Corsa and Astra were the most popular cars in Scotland last year, followed by Ford’s Fiesta and Focus. The Fiesta was the biggest-selling car in the UK in 2010.
Across the whole of 2010, Scottish new car sales were down just 4% over 2009, however, and Scottish Motor Trade Association chief executive Douglas Robertson blamed December’s figures on the snow.
“Obviously these figures are disappointing for our dealers and it is difficult to quantify just how much the decrease was caused by the extreme weather conditions experienced in Scotland in the first half of the month,” he said.
“The year on year decrease also reflects the fact that in Scotland private buyers are a higher percentage of the registrations than is the case south of the border, and we feel that these figures reflect the uncertainty that Scottish consumers felt in the latter part of the year.”
He added, “However, we are optimistic that in the second half of 2011 as the economic recovery grows, new car registration figures will reflect consumers’ increasing confidence.”
In other news, car-makers including Hyundai, Subaru, Honda and Seat are absorbing part or all of the VAT rise across much of their range. Check your local dealer for details.
Vauxhall, meanwhile, are extending their ‘lifetime’ warranty to used models. As long as the model undergoes a free inspection, the company will cover the powertrain, steering, brakes and electrics until the car reaches 100,000 miles, with no time restriction.