SPRING might be here, but demand for 4x4s is still yet to drop, according to Glass’s guide.
The list of fastest-selling used cars in the UK is dominated by 4x4s and SUVs – holding the three top spots in the chart.
Lexus’s RX 400h marks the fastest-selling car – with an average selling time of 25.3 days. Land Rover’s Discovery 4 follows with 26.0 days, an Hyundai’s Tucson with 27.5.
The Citroen Xsara Picasso came next – taking just 28.5 days to sell on average, tied with Toyota’s Corolla. Following was the Honda CR-V at 29.2 days, the Citroen DS3 at 30.2 days, and the Audi A3 at 30.4 days.
Toyota’s Aygo and Hyundai’s i10 finished the list, with 30.8 and 31.2 days on average respectively.
‘It’s a really interesting top 10 this month if we look back over previous months,’ commented Rupert Pontin, chief car editor at Glass’s.
‘Lifestyle 4x4s and MPVs are very much the most desirable used cars on the market, which has been the situation since Christmas. However last month we saw a convertible taking the number two spot. It’s fairly indicative of the weather – a bit of sunshine a few weeks ago meant people started thinking about summer, but with the cold spell returning and the weather remaining poor, off road vehicles are very much in pole position once again.
‘The models themselves aren’t a surprise – Discovery 4 and RX 400h are all season favourites. I would expect that most off roaders will start to fall out of the top 10 as and when the weather starts to improve, and then we’ll see a sustained increase in convertibles and roadsters.’
At the other end of the spectrum, Chrysler’s Ypsilon and Delta mark two of the slowest sellers in the UK – taking 111.9 and 93.4 days on average to sell, each spending more than three times as long to sell as many in the top ten.
Volvo’s S60, Subaru’s Legacy, Chevrolet’s Cruze and Hyundai’s i40 were also slow sellers – taking between 63 and 69 days to shift – while the Lexus CT 200h defied its hybrid SUV brother’s demand, with an average selling time of 67 days.
A few 4x4s even made it into the slowest-selling list: Mitsubishi’s ASX came second with an average of 100 days before a sale, while the firm’s Outlander and Porsche’s Cayenne also sold slowly with 64.6 and 63.6 days respectively.
‘A pattern is beginning to emerge with Chrysler’s Ypsilon and Delta still languishing,’ continued Pontin. ‘The manufacturer generates good sales from its established products, but buyers are still failing to connect the Chrysler brand with B and C segment vehicles. The problem with Chrysler is that the public do not associate it with small cars, and so I think bringing these models to the UK under the Chrysler brand was possibly the wrong move as the UK market associates these models with Lancia in Europe.
‘What is a surprise is the entry of the Mitsubishi ASX, possibly driven by some new car promotional activity towards the end of 2012 which shifted used car customers into new cars. Equally the Hyundai i40 at the bottom of the table is likely to have been affected by an increase in volume, many of which are the 4 door saloon variants, and these are often slow to sell in comparison to the faster moving estate variants.’
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