New car registrations in the UK continued their long decline in November, falling 11.2%; meanwhile while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) had a mixed month, the Fiat brand continued to see its sales collapse although the niche brands - Alfa Romeo, Abarth and Maserati - all bucked the negative trend to post gains according to data released by UK automotive industry body, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The UK new car market continued its eight month contraction last month, a total of 163,541 units registered representing an 11.2% year-on-year fall. Fleet (-14.4%) and business (-33.6%) sales were the biggest losers while private sales (-5.1%) despite being in the red outperformed the overall fall.
The biggest declines were seen in the executive and mini segments, which decreased -22.2% and -19.8% respectively, while demand in the supermini segment contracted by -15.4%.
According to Mike Hawes, the SMMT Chief Executive, the falls have been driven by a slowdown in diesel sales. "An eighth month of decline in the new car market is a major concern, with falling business and consumer confidence exacerbated by ongoing anti-diesel messages from government.," Hawes said in a statement issued by the SMMT to accompany the release of the November registrations data.
"Diesel remains the right choice for many drivers, not least because of its fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions," he reckons, in a viewpoint that tends to pushes against emerging trends. "The decision to tax the latest low emission diesels is a step backwards and will only discourage drivers from trading in their older, more polluting cars. Given fleet renewal is the fastest way to improve air quality, penalising the latest, cleanest diesels is counterproductive and will have detrimental environmental and economic consequences."
The picture during November at FCA was mixed. The Fiat brand, the volume driver, saw its share collapse by 43.49% to just 1,914 registrations last month (compared to 3,387 during the same month the previous year) and that added up to a 1.17% share of the market for November.
Fiat's sales in the UK have steadily slipped downwards throughout this decade, removing it from being a major brand to one that now occupies a minor market position.
The niche brands though were in the black ink and Alfa Romeo kicked that off after shifting 391 new cars last month in the UK to compare positively to 324 units shifted during the same month last year. That was a 20.68% year-on-year rise, although it only added up to a market share of 0.24% for the month. The Giulia went on sale in November 2016 and that has helped Alfa Romeo's sales push, counteracting a decline in demand for the Giulietta. The new Stelvio SUV went on sale in the UK back in September and is also starting to positively impact sales data. For the wide model portfolio available now available that is though a poor performance and Alfa Romeo UK needs to significantly raise its game in the coming months and target major market share gains.
Elsewhere the other small brands had a robust month, Abarth shifted 366 cars, up 25.77% on the 291 units it sold during November 2016 to take a 0.22% share of the market while Maserati was up by almost a third year-on-year during November, 124 cars equating to a rise of 31.91%. Finally FCA’s Jeep brand’s sales plunged by a half during November to just 347 units, down 52.79% year-on-year.
For the year-to-date 2,388,144 new cars have been sold in the UK, down 5% on the same period last year while after eleven months of the year the Fiat brand is on 42,830 sales to claim a 1.79% share of the market, down by 24.4% year-on-year (56,652 units were sold by Fiat during the year-to-date last year for a then 2.25% share of the total market).
For the year-to-date the niche brands all are in positive territory, starting with Alfa Romeo which is on 4,693 registrations and that adds up to a 0.20% share of the market, almost flat (+2.27%) year-on-year. (Alfa Romeo saw 4,589 sales to take an 0.18% share of the market during the first eleven months of last year).
Abarth, meanwhile, is on 4,169 sales for the year-to-date for a 0.17% share of the total market, that’s up 12.98% year-on-year as the Scorpion brand enjoyed 3,690 sales for the first eleven months of last year while Maserati has 1,576 sales so far this year for a 0.07% share of the total market and is up 22.65% year-on-year and that compares favourably to 1,285 units for the year-to-date in 2016.
Finally there is no joy for the Jeep brand this year in the UK, the off road vehicle maker's sales are down by a half for the year-to-date, 6,119 units representing a fall of 53.91% year-on-year and just a 0.26% share of the market for the first eleven months of this year.
