The new car market fell by 13.0 per cent in July –
the steepest decline since December 2006. The shortfall was more
pronounced than expected and reflects growing concerns of weaker
consumer confidence. July marked the third successive month of
falling new car demand, with volumes down 7.4 per cent in the past
three months. The July 2008 total was 13.4 per cent or 23,810 units
off the 1999-2007 average for the month of 177,230 units.
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The SMMT’s revised forecast for 2008 suggests a 6.6 per cent
decline in volumes in the second half of the year. The forecast for
2009 was cut due to concerns that the economic situation will
remain subdued for a more prolonged period.
The 12 month rolling total fell to 2.361m units in July – the
lowest level since February last year, but would still mean that
full year 2008 figures would be in the top ten annual totals. July
is a relatively small volume month – at 7.3 per cent of annual
sales. But the total was 7 per cent below expectations. August is
also a very low volume month and so September should provide a much
clearer indication of underlying trends.
Private sector volumes have fallen in every month of 2008, but
the July drop was the steepest recorded since February 2005. Fleet
volumes, which have been supporting the market, remain positive
over the year-to-date but have also begun to recede.
Daimler issued a sharp profit warning for this year. The company
said that sluggish growth in the car market was taking its toll on
earnings. As a result shares in Daimler fell almost 12 per cent
after it lowered its profit forecast by more than 10 per cent to
around €7bn. Previously the company had predicted that profits
would be significantly higher than last year’s €7.7bn. Chief
executive Dieter Zetsche said rising prices for raw materials such
as steel and the strong euro were also partly to blame. But, he
said the bigger reason was the drastic slowdown in European and US
markets in the past few months.
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By GlobalDataBosses of the Indian car firm Tata Motors have said the company
will not shy away from making major investments in Jaguar and Land
Rover. Tata bought the two businesses from Ford last month in a
£1.7bn deal. Land Rover remains profitable but Ford has never made
money from Jaguar. Tata managing director, Ravi Kant, said it was
in for the “long haul” and would do “whatever would be
required”.
Liverpool Victoria has been fined £840,000, the second largest
imposed by the FSA, for mis-selling PPI. Earlier this year HSBC
subsidiary, HFC Bank, was fined £!,000,000 for similar failings.
The FSA said that Liverpool Victoria added the cost of PPI to
quotes for personal loans without customers applying for it. As
many as 14,500 customers were not told that PPI was being added to
their loan and that they would pay interest on it.
