Keep an eye on UK registrations this year: should they rise by much more than 1%, it will be due to forced activity and daily rental sales, according to the UK president and CEO of Kia.
Paul Philpott believes some manufacturers are already heavily discounting their vehicles to push units into the market, encouraged by changes to the euro-sterling exchange rate.
“Manufacturers have spare capacity in mainland Europe and their margins in the UK have increased because of the exchange rate,” Philpott said. “That could have an impact on the new car market here. There are already some big discounts out there.”
He added: “The market is forecast to be flat or a slight increase. If it increases by more than 1% it will be driven by other factors.”
More articles on:
Bauer B2B group editor Stephen Briers has been an automotive business journalist since 1995. He has been editor of Fleet News since 2009 and before that was editor of Automotive Management for almost seven years. He now oversees both brands, as well as RAIL magazine.
Login to comment
Comments
No comments have been made yet.