24 March 2013

March new car registrations have suffered a mid-month slow-down, according to several Auto Retail Agenda sources.

Auto Retail Network members have reported a very positive first week for the new 13-plate, but sources have since mentioned that business has slowed considerably.

One manufacturer Auto Retail Agenda spoke to said it had revised down its prediction for the month on the back of slow sales. Last year, March recorded an overall increase in registrations of 1.8% to hit 372,835 units.

One senior industry source said he expected this month to report a positive growth in registrations similar to that of December, which was up 3.7%, rather than the double-digit growth of recent months. He also claimed some manufacturers were already pre-registering cars because of the slow-down mid-month.

Some experts believed the weather has played an important part in the decrease in showroom traffic, and have also pointed out that March 2013 has fewer days in which to register new cars than last year. This March has a full five weekends, something that only happens every 823 years, and cuts the number of registration days from 27 last year to 26 this.

Tags: 13-plate, 13-reg, 13-regisration, March 2013 sales, market conditions, new car sales