British vehicles market in October 2023 grows for the 13th month in a row, with 153,467 new registrations (+14.2%). YTD figures at 1.60 million are up 19.5% from the previous year. Volkswagen rises into 1st spot (+29.9%).
Market Trend and Outlook
Although the United Kingdom is expected to avoid a recession this year, the country faces a challenging economic outlook. The energy price shock due to Russia’s war in Ukraine has disrupted the recovery, with growth projected at a modest 0.4 percent in 2023 and 1 percent in 2024. The terms of trade shock, amid historically tight labor markets, has also pushed inflation to record levels.
Despite a negative economic outlook the British Auto Market stays strong, with sales in October 2023 growing for the 13th month in a row and reaching 153,467 new registrations (+14.2%). YTD figures at 1.60 million are up 19.5% compared to the prior year.
Looking at cumulative data up to October 2023, brand-wise Volkswagen -up 1 spot- becomes the new leader with 136,391 new registrations (+29.9%), in front of Ford at 123,894 sales (+14.6%).
In 3rd position ranks Audi with 116,666 sales (+29.3%), followed by Kia with 96,784 registrations (+8.6%), Toyota at 93,639 (+7.3%) and BMW with 89,403 sales (+0.6%).
Opel maintains 7th with 85,219 sales (+15.5%), in front of Hyundai at 75,456 (+8.2%), Nissan with 74,592 (+25.1%) and Mercedes -down 2 spots- closing the Top 10 with 72,801 cumulative sales (+2.0%).
Looking at specific models the Ford Puma is the best seller with a 36.4% increase in year-on-year sales, followed by the Nissan Qashqai up 4.1%.
Medium-Term Market Trend
The decline of the British vehicles market was already in place since a couple of decades, with the relocation of several manufacturing activities in other low cost European countries, but the exit from the European Community has further accelerated the process, starting from the long discussions about BREXIT.
Indeed the market reached a record level in 2016 (2.6 million annual sales) and then started to decline. The pandemic in 2020 further accelerated the process pushing the industry down to 1.6 million and rather than recovering, it seems that the market direction is still down.
In the following two years, in fact, the British market didn’t perform quite well. In 2021 volume remained relatively flat, with sales rising merely 0.7% and in 2022 the market dropped further, losing 1.6%.
Indeed, the effects of current global threats, including record inflation rate, increased fuel price, political instability, transition to electrification, raw materials shortage, are emphasized in UK by the economic effects of BREXIT.
Despite the bad performance in the last years, 2023 has started off with a bang. In fact, it maintained the momentum built up in the last months of 2022, with the first few months of the year growing in double digits.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for the top 40 Brands and top 10 Manufacturers Groups.
