New car sales: 2018 half-year report

It’s half-time in the 2018 new car sales race, and a chance to look back at the first six months of the year to see which brands are flying and which are floundering. Private new car sales are down about 5% on the first half of last year, although a lot of that was during the first three months when compared to a record first quarter in 2017. The last three months have seen more stability, and are likely to more realistically predict what’s in store for the rest of the year. The main news topic continues to be the collapse of diesel in the new car market. Despite the ongoing howls from industry lobbyists, it looks like the diesel ship has sailed, and an ever-increasing number of car manufacturers have announced that they will be discontinuing diesel models in coming years. Interestingly, diesel’s market share has stabilised in the last couple of months after about two years of steady falls. From a high point of as much as 55% of total market share, diesel sales have fallen down to a low of 30.6% in April and recovered to about 32% in the last two months. It seems likely to stay at this sort of level for the time being, but is unlikely to return to anywhere like its previous level. Within the industry, there are brands enjoying a successful start to the year and others who are suffering. Let’s have a look at the ten biggest winners and losers from the first half of 2018. It’s important to note that the official numbers always refer to registrations rather than sales, because many manufacturers will play various self-registration games to boost numbers when it suits them (eg – dealer demonstrators, loan cars, “management cars” and pre-registered vehicles) The ten biggest winners of 2018 so far: 1. MG (up 115%) MG ZS. Another sports car brand joins the SUV set. MG is enjoying the sales benefits that have come from finally joining the SUV sector, with the ZS model joining the GS model in the brand’s line-up. Registrations to date are more than double those from last year. More MG news, reviews, features and offers 2. McLaren (up 48%) McLaren 720S (left) and 570S (right). Either will be fine, thanks. Small-volume brands like McLaren see a lot of fluctuation because they don’t have many models, so when they launch a new one their sales will skyrocket for a while. McLaren’s latest 720S supercar is helping the company achieve some great numbers at the moment, which will naturally slow down over time, while the entry-level Sports Series models like the 570S (pictured) are helping build volume. More McLaren news, reviews and features 3. Abarth (up 33%) A cluster of spiders... Abarth 124 Spiders, that is. Good news for Abarth, Fiat’s performance sub-brand, with a 33% increase on last year’s numbers and a steadily-growing community of Abarth enthusiasts. As we’ll see later, Fiat’s own models would love that sort of success. More Abarth news, reviews, features and offers 4. SEAT (up 22%) I don’t know what the collective noun for a number of SEAT vehicles is. Volkswagen’s Spanish brand is going from strength to strength, and a 22% increase on last year’s result is more good news for SEAT. Once again, it’s SUVs leading the way, although the all-new Ibiza supermini is doing it’s bit for the cause as well. More SEAT news, reviews, features and offers 5. Porsche (up 17%) Nothing says ‘sports car company’ like flogging SUVs from Harrods. German SUV manufacturer Porsche has registered 17% more new cars in 2018 than at the same point last year. Some of those registrations may be sports cars like the 911 or Cayman, but the majority are 4x4s to ferry the kids to expensive schools in Surrey. More Porsche news, reviews and features 6. Subaru (up 15%) Subaru XV sales are finally giving the company some traction in the UK. Subaru continues to fly under the radar in the UK, but its numbers are 15% better than this time a year ago. The new XV crossover has been a big help, so we’ll see whether Subaru can sustain this growth for the rest of the year. It’s a good recovery, as this time last year Subaru was on the other side of this list as one of the worst performers in the industry. More Subaru news, reviews, features and offers 7. Mitsubishi (up 14%) Just the thing if you need to go off-road electrically (for a fairly short distance). Another brand that has turned its performance around from where it was 12 months ago, Mitsubishi has enjoyed a 14% improvement over last year in the year-to-date sales figures, after a 15% fall in the previous year. The Outlander is still the country’s favourite plug-in hybrid SUV, but as more rivals start to offer plug-in alternatives, will Mitsubishi be able to maintain this performance? More Mitsubishi news, reviews, features and offers 8. Lexus (up 7%) How to play the long game: 1) Shun diesel, commit to hybrids. 2) Wait a decade for the market to come to you. Having stuck to its hybrid strategy for a long time now, Lexus is well placed to benefit from the shift away from diesel cars. Plus it’s growing range of SUVs will be helping, and should be boosted further by the arrival of the small UX model later this year. More Lexus news, reviews, feature and offers 9. Volkswagen (up 5%) Greenpeace subtly conveying its disapproval of Volkswagen’s behaviour. Image (c) Greenpeace. Any publicity’s good publicity, eh? Given that the global anti-diesel mood has largely been created by Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal, it’s ironic that the monkey-gassers from Wolfsburg are selling more cars than ever. Volkswagen registrations are up 5% on this time last year, and the company is by far the biggest brand to see growing sales figures in 2018. Proof, if it was needed, that the public really is gullible. More Volkswagen news, reviews, features and offers =10. Hyundai and Kia (up 2%) Hyundai i30 N – taking on the GTI/Type R/ST hot hatches Hyundai just pipped sister brand Kia into tenth place on this list, but the results are so similar that we’ve grouped them together. Both brands recorded almost identical registration numbers both this year (51,000 and change) and last year (50,000 and a bit), and almost identical growth of just under 2%. The Korean collective continues to solidify its place at the top table of global car manufacturers. More Hyundai news, reviews, features and offers More Kia news, reviews, features and offers Next page: The ten biggest losers of 2018 to date The ten biggest losers of 2018 so far: 1. Infiniti (down 74%) Infiniti’s UK sales have plunged 75% year-to-date over last year Infiniti sales have fallen by three quarters in the first half of 2018 compared to last year, which is a huge reversal when a year ago we were admiring an increase of 36% on the year before. The brand needs some solid contenders to make up growth. Instead of building the Q30 and QX30 hatchbacks from the old Mercedes A-Class platform, maybe Infiniti needs to develop an electric luxury model from parent company Nissan’s Leaf platform. More Infiniti news, reviews, features and offers 2. smart (down 36%) smart sales are not looking too clever in 2018 The previous-generation smart fortwo was not a very good car, but surprisingly it sold in ever-increasing numbers through its lifecycle. The latest model does not seem to be enjoying anything like the same level of success, even with a doubling of the model range to both two- and four-door versions. Parent company Daimler has already said that smart will become an electric-only car company rather soon, which won’t help sales volumes in the short term but may work out better in the long run. More smart news, reviews, features and offers 3. Fiat (down 30%) The Panda is a large black-and-white creature, rarely seen in the wild. It’s another poor start to the year for Fiat. Last year the Italian brand was on this same list, with a 14% drop over 2016, and this year it has fallen even further with a 30% slide. Monthly new limited-edition versions of the Fiat 500 just don’t cut it, and sales of the rest of the range appear to be negligible. The 124 Spider is a lovely car, but is outsold considerably by its Mazda MX-5 sister. Where does Fiat go from here? Well, there are rumours that the entire Fiat Chrysler automotive group could be sold to Hyundai... More Fiat news, reviews, features and offers 4. Nissan (down 30%) Nissan Qashqai: keeping the Sunderland economy afloat since 2007 Nissan is the largest manufacturer on this side of our list, with the largest drop in absolute terms of more than 25,000 cars compared to the first six months of 2017. The ever-popular Qashqai SUV makes up over half of all Nissan registrations, so maybe the Micra and other nine models in the Nissan range need to lift their game. More Nissan news, reviews, features and offers 5. Aston Martin (down 30%) Sales should pick up once this bad boy arrives in showrooms Aston Martin is in the opposite position of McLaren at the top of this article. Last year the company had just launched the DB11 and sales soared. This year’s sales numbers to date reflect a low-volume manufacturer whose main model (Aston Martin Vantage) was at the end of production, leaving a significant gap in sales. Now that the new Vantage is on its way, and with another new model – the DBS Superleggera – set to join it by the end of the year, the second half of 2018 should be busier for Aston Martin dealers. More Aston Martin news, reviews and features 6. SsangYong (down 29%) Sometimes simply being cheaper isn’t enough. This time last year, SsangYong was holding steady. In 2018, however, the results are considerably down. SsangYong has taken the mantle of “Korea’s cheapest cars” from previous holders Kia and Hyundai, and is trying to emulate their evolution to respected mainstream brands. But it’s a tough market out there with plenty of big rivals offering big deals, and that makes SsangYong’s job that much harder. More SsangYong news, reviews, features and offers 7. DS Automobiles (down 24%) Will the rest of this year see more DS 7s on British...