Axon's Automotive Anorak: 2017 new car market winners and losers

One year on, we now know the final sales results of the UK new car market for 2017, and it was certainly a less happy picture for many car manufacturers, and the motor industry as a whole.

Uncertainty about the future of diesel sustainability, viability and Government taxation had a negative impact on British derv sales, as did the inevitable confusion and concern over the Brexit for the new car market and British motor industry overall.

Sales of new diesel passenger cars dropped by over 17 per cent in 2017, to account for 42 per cent of the total new car market – down from 48 per cent just one year earlier. Overall, UK sales reduced by 5.7 per cent to 2,540,617 new cars, the first drop in the British market following six years of steady growth.

In this declining market, petrol-engined cars found a small degree of favour, growing by 2.7 per cent to take 53.3 per cent of total sales (49 per cent in 2016), with zero-emission electric and hybrid cars growing by a considerable 34.8 per cent, to now account for 4.7 per cent of the whole market (3.3 per cent the previous year).

As the UK Government accelerates its push to encourage many more of us to consider, and buy, zero-emission vehicles (electric vehicle EVs and alternative fuelled vehicles AFVs) ahead of the overall ban on the British sales of internal combustion engines in 2040. To this end, just under 89,000 EVs and AFVs were registered in 2017, with a huge growth of 200,000 examples of these cars forecast to find new buyers this year.

Various diesel scrappage schemes (mostly for perfectly fine and serviceable cars) are already being offered by various manufacturers to swap into an AFV new car, with more diesel and petrol vehicles restrictions being mooted around the Country (and overseas).

The City of Oxford, for example, has already declared its total prohibition on all petrol and diesel cars entering its city centre from 2020 as a world first, so I for one will certainly not be spending my hard-earned shopping or entertaining budget there, despite living quite close, as I plan to stick to my faithful (and low-emission) petrol-powered car for some time yet!   

As if to emphasise the point that driving pleasure and the internal combustion engine are not quite a thing of the past as yet, the two car manufacturers that enjoyed the biggest UK sales growth during 2017 were the British performance marques of McLaren (sales up a staggering 3050 per cent at 567 units), and Aston Martin (+ 64.4 percent). Other major winners last year in the UK were Infiniti (up 21.6 per cent), Maserati (+18.5), SEAT (+18.3) and Abarth (+12 per cent).

Despite our seemingly insatiable appetite for new SUVs and crossovers, some of the biggest losers in the British market last year were established makers of 4x4s, with Jeep down by 54.5 per cent, Subaru dropping 26 per cent and SsangYong falling 19.2 per cent. 

For the more ‘mainstream’ brands, offering a broader range of new cars across a number of sectors, the PSA Group took the largest hit overall, with DS Automobile down by 43 per cent, Vauxhall falling by 26 per cent, Citroen dropping by 18.3 per cent and Peugeot down 16.6 per cent. Conversely, PSA’s global sales for 2017 were up by 15 per cent, thanks partly to with strong demand in China.

Other ‘mainstream’ car makers such as Renault, Fiat, Mitsubishi and Ford also saw sales decline, as us Brits were tempted increasingly into more ‘prestigious’ brands such as Mercedes-Benz (up 6.6 per cent), Porsche (+7.3 per cent), Alfa Romeo (+2.4), Jaguar (+2.1) and Land Rover (+4 per cent). 

With the 2018 arrival of important new model introductions, this year such as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Jaguar E-Pace, Volvo XC40, and BMW X2 and X7, British demand for a car attached to a prestige badge looks set to continue. 

The overall forecast for new car sales in the UK looks set to decline further this year, however, despite buyers still being attracted by this range of new car models, as well very tempting finance and PCP deals. The UK new car market is one of the largest and most diverse in the world, with some 44+ car brands offering around 400 different model types.

Britain’s Top Ten most popular new cars in 2017 remained mostly hatchback models, with six in seven new cars sold being imported from overseas. Both the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Corsa slipped down the sales league, with the former being outsold by the Volkswagen Golf for the first time ever. Time will tell if the post-Brexit market sees us buying quite so many imported new models in the future, dependent on trading tariffs with the EU.

For 2017 Britain’s Top Ten best sellers were (2016 position in brackets);

1) Ford Fiesta (1)

2) Volkswagen Golf (4)

3) Ford Focus (3)

4) Nissan Qashqai (5)

5) Vauxhall Corsa (2)

6) Vauxhall Astra (6)

7) Volkswagen Polo (7)

8) Mini Hatch (8)

9) Mercedes-Benz C-Class (9)

10) Mercedes-Benz A-Class (11)

Across Europe as a whole, last year’s new car market was up by 5.2 per cent, with 2017’s Top Ten best-selling new cars differed slightly to the UK with smaller B-segment hatches taking the majority of sales, such as the Renault Clio and Peugeot 208, as follows:

1) Volkswagen Golf (1)

2) Renault Clio (2)

3) Volkswagen Polo (3)

4) Ford Fiesta (4)

5) Nissan Qashqai (8)

6) Peugeot 208 (6)

7) Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (5)

8) Volkswagen Tiguan (13)

9) Skoda Octavia (9)

10) Opel/Vauxhall Astra (8)

Despite VW’s tarnished corporate image post-diesel scandal, the German brand seems to go from strength-to-strength, with record profits achieved for 2017, and the Golf predictably remaining the ‘go to’ hatchback once again in Europe, as it has for many years, despite a 2 per cent fall in demand last year.