New car registrations took another leap forward with an improvement of 14.2% for the month of October. 179,714 units were registered in what appears another extremely profitable month for the automotive market.
February may boast Valentine’s Day, but there wasn’t much love for new-cars and it remains to-date the lowest month of the year with just 68,736. October marks an unbelievable 32nd month in a row for growth, a hallmark of the excellent progress being made by the industry. Interestingly, despite an inexplicably poor month for sales, it was still a change – albeit a minor one – from last year’s effort, and the total sales for February in the last two years combined don’t even reach what October achieved in this year alone. Cupid’s arrows are clearly not piercing the armour of 2014’s hottest new vehicles.
October’s 14.2% increase on last year is only trumped by March which shattered it’s numbers from 2013 with an incredible 17.70% hike for 2014.
In terms of manufacturers, Ford Fiesta continued their seemingly unending dominance with a whopping 9,157 registrations, contributing to an unassailable 24,221 total Ford registrations across all makes and models, this impressive number gives the American giant a 13.48% market share. UK manufacturer Vauxhall attempted to run Ford a close second; and achieved the next highest share for October with 10.58%, but history suggests the result was never really in doubt.
The Nissan Qashqai maintained a top 10 spot, and the resiliant model continues to fluctuate between 6th and 10th place - suggesting intense popularity for the sturdy SUV.
Despite October’s impressive figures; September remains streets ahead with a staggering 425,861 – making it the most profitable September for a decade.
