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Fleet continues to drive new car growth, despite Brexit uncertainty

Image of Chris Evans
Author: | Updated: 06 Jun 2016 11:17

The new car market grew by 2.5% in May with 203,585 vehicles registered, mostly thanks to fleet uptake.

Fleet registrations, which include lease cars, were up 8.8% last month, offsetting a 3% fall in private registrations and a 20% decline in business registrations, according to the latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

As a result, more than 1.15m passenger cars have now been registered in 2016 – a 4.1% increase on the first five months of 2015.

Skoda Superb Estate 2016 Red Front Dynamic

Brexit uncertainty

The decline in business demand could be attributed to uncertainty over Britain's EU referendum.

Commenting on the figures, 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.”

Demand for diesel

Interestingly, the number of petrol vehicles registered fell 0.6% in May, while demand for diesels climbed 5%. Uptake of alternatively fuelled vehicles also continued to outpace the overall market with registrations increasing by 12.1%.

Top performers

Unsurprisingly, Ford’s unsurpassable Fiesta topped the sales charts in May, followed by a host of the usual suspects. The Golf pipped the Focus to second place in the table, but otherwise it was a case of following the form book.

Sadly for Kia, that meant that last month’s star performer, the new Sportage, dropped out of the top ten to be surpassed by the Mini Hatch, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

May 2016 Year-to-date
Ford Fiesta 8,236 Ford Fiesta 52,476
Volkswagen Golf 5,729 Vauxhall Corsa 33,519
Ford Focus 5,664 Ford Focus 31,882
Vauxhall Corsa 4,880 Volkswagen Golf 30,802
Nissan Qashqai 4,684 Nissan Qashqai 28,824
Vauxhall Astra 3,882 Volkswagen Polo 23,070
Volkswagen Polo 3,845 Vauxhall Astra 22,778
Mini Hatch 3,780 Audi A3 19,147
Mercedes-Benz C-Class 3,566 Vauxhall Mokka 18,106
BMW 3 Series 3,454 Mini Hatch 18,009
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