7:00 am, December 18, 2022
With snow and ice causing havoc on British roads, Auto Trader has reported a huge spike in demand for 4x4s.
The automotive marketplace found that the total number of users filtering for a 4×4 increased by a whopping 64 per cent this week alone.
That translates into a 21 per cent increase in advert views for 4x4s with the Ford Ranger seeing the largest rise with 75 per cent
Other models to see huge leaps included the Land Rover Freelander, Mitsubishi Shogun and Suzuki Jimny.
The increases were fuelled largely by the areas of the country most affected by the cold snap, including the North East – where there was a 32.5 per cent week-on-week interest in people looking at 4x4s.
Advert views for pick-up trucks were also up 18 per cent week-on-week. By contrast convertible advert views were down week-on-week by four per cent.
Reacting to the findings, Ian Plummer, Commercial Director at Auto Trader said: ‘The first snow of the winter left thousands of motorists completely exposed and triggered a rush of interest in vehicles more capable of dealing with the elements.
‘The weather might be freezing, but 4x4s are red hot right now, and with more snow on the way, retailers should make sure their SUV stock is advertised as prominently as possible across all channels and priced according to the market to capitalise before this surge in demand cools off.’
Most popular 4x4s on Auto Trader this week
1. Ford Ranger
Advert views on December 7, 2022: 2,720
Advert views on December 14, 2022: 4,757
Change: 74.9 per cent
2. Land Rover Freelander
Advert views on December 7, 2022: 2,745
Advert views on December 14, 2022: 4,627
Change: 68.6 per cent
3. Mitsubishi Shogun
Advert views on December 7, 2022: 4,103
Advert views on December 14, 2022: 6,472
Change: 57.7 per cent
4. Land Rover Discovery 3
Advert views on December 7, 2022: 2,789
Advert views on December 14, 2022: 4,208
Change: 50.9 per cent
5. Suzuki Jimny
Advert views on December 7, 2022: 5,809
Advert views on December 14, 2022: 8,574
Change: 47.1 per cent
