UPPER-medium cars – one of the core models in the fleet arena – continue to be the worst performing vehicles at auction, selling on average for less than 30% of their price new.

Analysis by Manheim Auctions of vehicles sold at its centres across the UK over the past 27 months shows that upper-medium cars sold for an average of 29% of cost new. The average age of the vehicles sold was 43 months with 67,000 miles on the clock.

By contrast, city cars and 4x4s continue to be the strongest sellers, with both sectors averaging 42% of their cost new at sale time. Superminis, such as the Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Fiesta, averaged 40%.

But there is better news for fleet managers as lower-medium models are performing well, selling for an average of 38% of their price new, the same figure as for MPVs.

In other sectors, compact executive cars such as the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series reached 39% and executive cars, ranging from the Saab 9-5 to the Mercedes-Benz S-class, hit 37%.

John Bailey, chief executive of Manheim Auctions, said: ‘As we look towards the end of the year, the used car market will undoubtedly come under pressure as new car incentives are stepped up.

‘That said, there is still reasonable retail demand and stocks across the main sources are generally fairly low, so these factors should help to retain a degree of much-needed stability.’