Our take on the latest Car registrations (Thu 10 Jan 2019)
Total car sales reached
18,742
In December 2018
Total car sales down 16%apc
Used large car sales in 2018 were 15% lower than in 2017
The key numbers...
- Used large car sales have been falling steeply for much of 2018 while falls in the sale of used small cars have started to accelerate downwards only in the past couple of months. This downward trend followed a rise in the sale of used small cars in the middle of the year.
- The direction of new car sales in 2018 has been harder to pin down with sales growing in some months and falling in others.
- The stinkbug season is expected to run to March 2019. Beyond that, we expect softer economic conditions to continue to stifle sales but it will be interesting to see how different market segments fare. Sales will probably continue to fall overall, but cash-strapped consumers might shift their preferences from new to used cars, and from large to small cars.
Total car sales
Annual % change
...and our reaction
- All segments of the passenger car market saw sales fall in December compared with the year before: used car sales fell 22%pa and new car sales fell 5.8%pa.
- The largest annual fall was in used large car sales, down 28% in December compared with the year before - the 11th consecutive decline.
- Sales of new small cars fell 15%pa in December compared with the year before, following 6.0%pa growth in November.
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