Growth in UK car registrations has continued into 2014, with new cars registered in January up 7.6% year-on-year to 154,562, making it the 23rd consecutive rise, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Private registrations also continued to eat into the market share of the fleet market, which traditionally sees strong growth in January, when fleet managers turn over their stock.
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This year private registrations increased market share from 42.5% in January 2013 to 46.5% in 2014. Fleet registrations dropped from a market share of 52.4% to 48.7% in the same period.
Another trend to come out of the data was the increasing importance of electric and alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFV). There were 25% more registrations of AFV’s in 2014 than in 2013, however, overall registrations remain small at 2859 for the month.
Supermini’s, therefore, continued to dominate registration numbers and were up again by 19% year-on-year. Executive vehicles were the largest growth segment in the month, however, up 41%, but still represent the smallest segment by registrations.
Despite the strong overall growth in January, the SMMT maintains its position that throughout 2014 the UK car market will not show the dramatic growth of 2013 but will settle into "moderate, sustainable growth" in 2014.
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By GlobalData
