• The number of people planning to buy a car in the six
months to February 2011 is at a three-year high, according to
Sainsbury’s Finance Car Buying Index. The research indicates that
7.68m people intend to buy a car during the period September 2010
to February 2011, a 49% increase on the 5.14m people for the
comparable period a year earlier.
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• Franchised car dealers are
looking to motor manufacturers for more support as market
conditions remain tough in the post-scrappage period. The RMI
Franchised Dealer Attitude survey reveals tough market
conditions.
• US car giant General Motors
reported a second consecutive quarter of profits following its
massive losses in 2009. GM said it made a net profit of $1.6bn
(£1bn) for the three months to the end of June, its largest
quarterly profit in six years. GM announced a share sale to help
pay back the $50bn bailout by US taxpayers that saved it from
bankruptcy.
GM has filed for an initial public
offering of up to $100m, although the maximum that it could seek to
raise is likely to be around $20bn analysts say.
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By GlobalDataThe company is 61% owned by the
taxpayer after the Obama administration stepped in with the
controversial bailout in June 2009 and the IPO means it can start
selling some of its stake. Trading is expected to start in October
or November.
• August will be the lowest volume
month of 2010, and typically only accounts for 3.3% of annual sales
ahead of the plate change in September. Last August, more than
16,000 cars, or 25% of the market, was reported through the
scrappage scheme. The market is forecast to slow from the current
annual running rate of 2.146m units to 2.018m units by the end of
the year.
Over the first seven months of
2010, the market remained 13.2% above 2009. In August, as in July,
the fleet market continued to recover while private volumes fell
away from the scrappage-fuelled levels of 2009.
Diesel-fuelled cars once again saw
their market share reach a new high of 52.6% in the month, in part
reflecting the drop in petrol-fuelled car registrations.
• A report from Experian shows the
number of insolvencies across the car trade has declined with
year-on-year figures showing that 35 garages and related businesses
failed in July, compared with 50 in the same period in 2009.
• Average used car values are lower
than 12 months previously for the first time this year, according
to the Used Car Price Index published by CAP.
The index for August reveals that
the fall in values accelerated last month, making the cars from two
further sectors typically cheaper than a year ago.
In August average values for upper-medium and small executive
models joined the list of car types that cost less now than a year
ago.
