Figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for July show Audi fleet sales have risen by 25.1% year-to-date to 21,362 units. Other marques to register large fleet increases include Nissan (up 21.8%) and Honda (up 23.4%).
The boost in fleet sales for these manufacturers comes at a time when the overall market is struggling.
Total new car sales in July were 175,277 units, down 5.9% year-to-date. Businesses running fewer than 25 cars again provided a bright spot in an otherwise bleak picture, recording a 6.9% year-to-date sales increase. Fleet business was down 2.9%.
Adrian Short, Audi’s head of business sales, said: ‘We are having a good year in fleet and we have got a good order bank, too. We have got the right models for user-choosers.’
The majority of Audi’s 25.1% increase in fleet business is down to diesel-engined A4 sales, which are up 25.6% year-to-date.
But Short says that it is not just A4 which is fuelling the growth. He added: ‘This is not one-model led, it is across the range. A3 Sportback is doing very well and we are trying to get more cars from Germany, and the 2.0 and 2.7 TDI A6 models are selling well.’
Of the more mainstream fleet manufacturers, Vauxhall maintained its top spot as the best-selling fleet manufacturer, chalking up 134,251 sales year-to-date. This figure is down 1.4% year-to-date compared to second-placed Ford, down 4.9%.
The Ford Focus remains the best-selling fleet model, registering 61,836 sales so far this year, down 4.8% year-to-date. However, Vauxhall’s new Astra is continuing to set a blistering pace in fleet, recording a 34.9% increase in sales year-to-date to 50,431 units.
Source: SMMT
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