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The residual value expert's view
Rupert Pontin, chief car editor at residual value expert Glass's, agrees with BCA and Lex that crossovers, SUVs and mini-MPVs are storming the used car market.
"From a desirability perspective these models are performing better than the more established and conventional cars," he says.
"This is also reflected from a residual point of view and this is because they offer something different for the customer in terms of appearance and specification and are currently only available in low volumes."
He even adds that certain manufacturers that are performing poorly with traditional models have seen an uplift in their RV performance with the introduction of new bodystyles.
"Renault and Citroen. are not doing so well unless you consider the crossover and SUV models. Mercedes is also struggling with high volumes of certain bland products whilst it waits for the halo effect that will come from the plethora of new exciting models launched in the last 12 months."
Pontin believes that the new glut of bodystyles is strong enough to create a lasting change to the new and used car market: "There is a very real chance that we are seeing a complete change to the car market as a whole, and the traditional C [lower medium] and D [upper medium] sectors will significantly diminish in size and [see] volume shift to these new and currently niche markets."
Even so, he maintains that the upper medium and supermini sectors are still doing well, and agrees with Lex Autolease's Glenn Sturley that the lower medium segment is the one that's losing out the most to the new kinds of cars.
"At the moment, new sales [of upper medium models] are on the decline, but residual values for these cars are still fairly good on the whole as used car volumes are generally low.
"Superminis are a fairly safe bet as people look to downsize and save money. [The] C-segment [lower medium] is a different story as buyers are likely to migrate to the new niche models discussed earlier."
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