NEW data from Frankfurt based fleet market data and automotive intelligence provider Dataforce shows the July 2018 UK true fleet market showing positive growth of 1.4%.
This follows June which was on the minus side.
Performance by brand
Volkswagen was the key brand – up 35.3% with a market share of 12.8%. Golf, new T-Roc and Tiguan assisted this growth.
Vauxhall (second), Ford and Mercedes all suffered while Audi (at 5, + 4.9%) and BMW (at 6, + 9.4%) both achieved a more than solid increase although this didn’t result in gaining positions in the ranking. Nissan stayed at seventh, while SEAT had an impressive + 30.8% jumping from 12 into eighth position.
A similar improvement was achieved by Peugeot climbing three places to 10 behind Kia. And the biggest volume growth in absolute figures within Peugeot came not from an SUV but from the compact 308.
Performance by segment
The biggest growth both by volume and by percentage was from the the compact and small SUV sectors. Compact SUV share reached its highest point – with 22.8% of the share. Strongest player in July (and year-to-date as well) was the Nissan Qashqai followed by Volkswagen Tiguan and Ford Kuga.
New entries in the top 10 were Vauxhall Grandland X (sixth) and Skoda Karoq (10th).
The Vauxhall Mokka led the small SUV sector with SEAT Arona leapfrogging into second.
Michael Gergen, Dataforce Business Information Manager said:
“Obviously, this is the right product at the right time. In July the Arona was number two within the SEAT model range behind the Leon.
“SEAT is actually a good example of the increasing relevance of SUVs; not just in general but also within the OEMs. Until August 2016 the SUV share at SEAT was exactly zero. This has changed dramatically with the introduction of Ateca and Arona: in July the share had grown to 37% in the True Fleet Market.”
Across the top 25 brands in July, SUVs accounted for 40.9% registrations compared to 32.9% in July last year. At Vauxhall SUVs accounted for more than 40%; at Peugeot it was 59%; and Renault 63%. Even Jaguar is turning into an SUV brand where almost every second car registered on fleet customers July was an SUV (E-Pace, F-Pace).
