Scrappage lifts retail but fleet sales stay grounded

Monthly new car registrations were ahead of their 2008 equivalent for the first time this year in July, though that recovery is artificially scrappage-induced rather than a sign of growing consumer confidence. While retail was up 29.8% on July 2008, fleet registrations were still 18.0% down, though that’s an improvement on what’s now a figure of 27.9% down over the first seven months of 2009.

The fleet sector saw Ford continue to dominate the market ahead of Vauxhall and Volkswagen, with the premium brands of Audi and BMW still just behind Peugeot. Mercedes was the only one of the top ten to improve on its July 2008 figure thanks to good growth on the A-, B- and new E-class ranges.

Ford predictably also locked out the first two places on the model chart with Focus ahead of Fiesta, while Vauxhall took the next two with Astra ands Corsa. BMW’s 3-series was the biggest grower in July’s top ten models, recording a 29.3% increase on its figure for the same month in 2008.