4×4 and SUV used car sales declined in every UK region apart from Greater London, shows a new survey.
Sales there increased by nearly 10 per cent. This contrasts with a 4 per cent decline throughout the rest of the UK, says information services company Experian.
Segments which declined throughout the country include used luxury, executive and upper medium cars. Even here, though, Greater London declines were less than in the rest of the country.
Surprisingly, the biggest declines were in supermini and mini segments. They were down 8.4 per cent and 14.3 per cent respectively.
The London statistics are interesting for other reasons, too. They prove why the region should be evaluated independently from the rest of the country.
London is biggest for…
•   Falls in sales of used Fiats, Citroens and Rovers
•   Falls in sales of cars up to 3 years old
•   Falls in sales of cars more than 9 years old
London posted the…
•   Only increase in sales of BMW and Mercedes
•   Smallest decline in sales of luxury, executive and upper medium cars
•   Highest increase in used MPV sales
•   Only increase in sales of used diesel cars
Kirk Fletcher, MD of Experian’s automotive division, said: ‘It is interesting to see that London is still the home of the most ‘die hard’ fans of 4x4s.
‘Price consciousness is featuring more heavily for car buyers elsewhere, and the more expensive to run cars are seeing a downturn in sales.
‘In London, however, while sales of the bigger segments have slowed down, it is the smaller segments seeing the worst sales.’
