New Car Sales down in June

New car registrations fell to 209,190 in the UK for the month of June 2008, with 4 x 4 cars again heavily down, compared to June 2007. New car sales for June 2007 were 222,863

Small car sales have increased with sales of SMART cars up by a whopping 104 percent.

Land Rover sales fell heavily by 29% to only 2936 units, and American brand Jeep was down 50 percent to only 357 units. Expect heavy incentives on these cars over the coming months as manufacturers try hard to shift unwanted inventory.

Prestige cars are also suffering from the downturn in the economy with Porsche, once untouchable and the most profitable franchise in the UK, 50 percent down to 412 units. Aston Martin and Bentley were down by 16 percent and 38 percent respectively.

Of the major players, Ford and Vauxhall were slightly down but motoring.co.uk is aware that dealers have been registering units to meet targets, and in some cases were 20 percent down on sales.

Is there any good news out there?

Well yes if you are a Jaguar dealer, a Mini dealer, a Kia dealer or a Volvo dealer, who all managed sales increases of over 20 percent. And hats off to