UK car sales up 10.8% in June
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has today announced UK car sales grew by 10.8% in June compared with the same month in 2009.
The SMMT said the number of new cars sold in the month was 195,226 – representing the 12th consecutive monthly rise and exceeded expectations.
However, the Society warns that the latter half of the year will be challenging and sales for the full year are likely to fall as a result of the end of the scrappage scheme.
The £400 million initiative, which was launched in May 2009 to boost the ailing car industry, paid drivers of cars at least 10 years old £2,000 off the price of a new vehicle.
However, the ‘cash for bangers’ scheme ended on 31 March.
Meanwhile, the SMMT said there were 1,208,662 new registrations in the six months to the end of June – a 19.9% rise compared with the same period last year.
Commenting on today’s monthly figures, Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said: “Like many, we were anticipating that this would be a difficult month because of the end of the scrappage scheme.”
However, he cautioned: “I think the next six months are still going to be a very tough time for us. We would expect to see some dip following a buoyant first half of the year.”
Mr Everitt did highlight that the forthcoming VAT increase, scheduled for January next year, “may actually give us a bit of stimulus towards the end of the year as people try to avoid that increase in cost.”
Last week, Business Secretary Vince Cable warned that the UK’s car industry will not receive any further funding from the Government.
However, Mr Cable said the industry is “incredibly important to the UK economy” and insisted that “we’re not walking away from the industry”.
Measures to reduce emissions from cars and to help transform the UK into a low carbon economy, are still under review, according to Cable.
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