Glass’s is forecasting new car registrations will rise 4% in April to 170,000 units as the boom in retail sales continues.
Glass’s has pencilled in a 5% increase in registrations for the full year, a significant mark-up on the 1.2% increase from the official SMMT forecast, which is due to be revised.
Glass’s said that while it was early days yet, the outlook looked promising.
“Obviously, there is still a long way to go. However, a key point to consider, as we venture into Q2, is that the market would now have to go into contraction during the remainder of the year in order to “hit” a growth target of 1%.
“In a marketplace where inflation is falling and economic confidence is growing, that would appear to be an increasingly unlikely scenario indeed,” said Andrew Jackson, head of analytics at Glass’s.
The year has got off to a strong start. March 2014’s new car registrations rose a surprising 17.7% to 464,824 units. It was the best March performance since the twice-yearly plate change was introduced 10 years ago.
It was also the 25th consecutive month of growth in a market fuelled by retail sales, up 21%. Q1 sales are up 13.7% to 688,122 units.
