Whether the recession has truly finished is a question most of us are asking – but there could be some light at the end of the tunnel. Pendragon, the UKs largest motor vehicle retailer, has declared that it’s sales of luxury and prestige cars have risen by a staggering 20% since the start of 2010. These sales are made up of premium brands like Mercedes and Maserati.
Trevor Finn, Pendragon’s chief executive, said about the premium car market “It has been an aggressive V-shaped recovery”. Sales of “premium” cars were the hardest hit in the beginning of the recession but are now in the vanguard of the recovery.
Overall new car registrations in the UK rose 24.6% in the first six months of ’10 – but only 12.9% if you exclude the effects of the scrappage scheme. The scrappage scheme was implemented to help offset the effects of the recession. It allowed a £2000 sum to be put against the value of a new car when you part-exed a vehicle over 10yrs old.
While sales of luxury and prestige vehicles seem to be on their way up other sectors are struggling. More average vehicles like Ford, Citroen and Vauxhall are selling their way out of the duldrums but at a slower rate. While commercial vehicle sales could be described as “subdued” – vans and trucks have been especially hit hard.
So, it seems as though mixed signals are the order of the day with some pointing up and some pointing down. Lets hope that the motor vehicle market as a whole has some more miles left in it.
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