Jayson Whittington, Manager – Commercial and Leisure Vehicle Valuations, Glass's Comment on SMMT LCV Registrations, said:
"Latest figures release by the
SMMT show that registrations of LCV’s in February kept pace with the impressive
volume achieved last year. February 2015
delivered a 17.9% increase over prior year, so to finish the month fractionally
ahead of this total sends a positive message out to the industry. Despite a steady start in January, year to
date registrations now sit at 34,993 which is only 888 units shy of the total set
at this point last year.
"Dealers continue to talk optimistically
about the state of the new market with enquiry levels remaining in line with
last year. It is believed that the
majority of sales in recent months have been by way of finance products, with current
deals occasionally working out less than buying a nearly new vehicle, which is
having a knock-on effect on late year values.
More customers are reportedly opting for vans with a better level of
specification than ever before with many deals available enabling customers to
walk up from a basic spec to a top of the range unit for only a relatively
small uplift in monthly expenditure. Whilst
this spells good news for used buyers down the road, it could have an adverse
effect on the future values of more basic units with the benchmark vehicles in
the market being well spec’d and in reasonable supply, which is not currently
the case.
"The SMMT expect volumes to remain
stable throughout the coming months with little in the way of growth expected,
however with multiple product launches on the horizon there could be some
surprises in store."
Ends
About Glass’s
Glass’s is the largest vehicle data provider in Europe, offering products and solutions that are invaluable at every stage of a vehicle's lifecycle. These include key valuation, technical and fleet management data, estimating, bodyshop and dealer management systems and web-based services. Founded in 1933 by William Glass, the first Glass’s Guide to Car Values – widely referred to as the used car dealer’s bible – was published in July of that year.
For further details:
- · Sanjay Mistry, Paperchase PR, 07810 368 772, sanjay@paperchasepr.co.uk
- Simon Wells, Paperchase PR, 07768 912 430, simon@paperchasepr.co.uk