U.K. car sales booming

Press, 16 June 1983, Page 23

U.K. car sales booming

New-car sales are booming in Britain. A record 642,118 were sold in the first four months of this year. That was 16.6 per cent more than in the same period last year and 4230 cars more than were sold in Britain’s previous best four months, January-April 1979. Ford was the leading manufacturer, accounting for 30.7 per cent of all United Kingdom sales in the four months ended April 30. Next in line were BL, Ltd (18.3 per cent), General Motors (13.6), VAG, or VW/ Audi (6.1), Nissan (4.8) and Peugeot Talbot (4.7). Imports, including cars from the Continental plants of Ford, GM, and Peugeot Talbot, accounted for 56.7 per cent of the U.K. market, down from 58 per cent in the same period of 1982. Sales of British cars increased from 231,382 to 277,866, the leading British manufacturer being BL, Ltd, with 117,239 sales compared with Ford’s 99,507 sales of U.K.-sourced cars. Ford’s total sales amounted to 197,208 cars. The Ford Sierra (65,032), Ford Escort (60,724) and Fiesta (43,231) filled first, second and fifth places in the January-April best-selling top 10 list. The Austin Metro (53,336) and Vauxhall Cavalier (46,705) were listed third and fourth.