CAP Automotive has said the growing breadth of model variants and option packs for new cars may cause confusion down the line for buyers, trade and retail, in the used car market.

According to CAP, publishers of car valuation services Black Book Live and New Vehicle Data database, since 2010 the number of new car model variants has risen from 2,584 to 2,984 in September 2013. The number of new-car option and equipment packs has risen from 1,281 to 3,682 while the combination of vehicle options has grown from 177,257 to 369,257.

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CAP said such a plethora of configurations increased complexity of forecasting vehicle values and may lead to market inertia.

Particularly, dealers and consumers may be hesitant to part-exchange cars or buy at auction without a consistent understanding of future values for a particular model, variant and options.

richard.brown@timetric.com

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