Business Blog - Scott Reid

Published on Thursday 4 September 2008 17:20

SEEN many 58 plate motors on the road? Thought not.

Admittedly, the twice yearly change doesn't trigger the sort of excitement and showroom rush the old 1 August annual update did.

But, in recent times, you could still bank on spotting plenty of gleaming metal hitting the highway on the first day of March and September.

This week, it's taken me until this morning to spot a car brandishing the latest 58 plate – and that was attached to a sub-7,000 supermini.

It's a clear signal that all is not well in Britain's credit-crunched motor retailing industry – one that's traditionally worth several billion pounds and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.

For months now sales folk up and down the land have had little to do but thumb their dog-eared price guides and dream of the heady days before the economy stalled.

Bangers may be spluttering out of the car lot, but those trying to peddle flashier metal are having a particularly torrid time.

Recent updates from major car dealerships make for grim reading.

Pendragon, owner of the Evans Halshaw and Stratstone brands, last week forecast another year and a half of trading misery amid fears its annual profits will head into reverse.

Rival Lookers – better known as Taggarts in Scotland – was equally gloomy with its talk of a "challenging" backdrop and "very tough" trading in both the new and used car markets.

New industry figures on the state of the UK market, released today, show new car registrations tumbled 18.6 per cent last month to record the market's weakest August since 1966.

Some of our European neighbours have seen an even bigger crash.

Spanish car salemen will be hitting the sangria and San Miguel after this week's truly dreadful new car data.

Sales fell a staggering 41.3 per cent in August compared to a year earlier, marking the fourth straight month of decline and the biggest drop this year.

It obviously doesn't help if your mortgage interest rates are sitting at an eight-year high, inflation is at a 15-year peak and unemployment is soaring.

Back home, we were told by Sainsbury's finance arm that the number of Britons planning to buy a car in the next six months is at its lowest level for three years.

We've heard and read plenty about the state of Britain's housing market – price crashes, mass layoffs, plunging bottom lines.

The pain being felt by car dealers – many of whom are long-standing, family-owned businesses, integral to local economies – has, perhaps, been a little less publicised.

Silver lining? As with the housing market, if you've got the dosh, it's a buyers' market out there.