ANOTHER month and another new car market which is down.

Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that July’s new car sales were down 4.1% at 168,015 units. Of these, fleet registrations accounted for 53.3% of sales and business sales to fleets with 25 vehicles or fewer made up 6%.

For the year-to-date (YTD), fleet sales have accounted for 49% of the new car market in 2006, with business sales making up 6.5%.

Ford remains the best-selling manufacturer in fleet, with the Focus remaining the top-selling model – up 1.2%.

Vauxhall’s Astra remains in second, but sales have slipped by 9%, while the Ford Fiesta keeps hold of third spot with another month of strong growth.

Elsewhere in the top 10, Vauxhall’s Zafira showed a near-26% rise in sales and the Volkswagen Passat range, which now includes all variants including the estate, was up by a massive 44.4%.

Two of the biggest losers in the top 10 were Renault’s Megane, down by a third, and the Vauxhall Corsa, a model in run-out mode which is down by nearly a quarter. In the top 10 list of manufacturers, there is little movement, although Honda moves into the top 10, thanks to strong sales of the new Civic range.

  • SALES of vans up to 3.5 tonnes were up 2.4% in July, reaching 23,243 registrations. For the year to date, the market is up slightly to 191,300 sales. However, expect more movement once all versions of the new vans go on sale.

    Top 10 fleet models

    YTD 2006 YTD 2005 % change
    Ford Focus 62,595 61,835 1.2
    Vauxhall Astra 45,953 50,443 -9.0
    Ford Fiesta 26,792 19,669 36.2
    Ford Mondeo 26,503 29,248 -9.4
    Renault Megane 24,768 37,000 -33.1
    Vauxhall Corsa 24,735 32,787 -24.6
    Vauxhall Zafira 21,967 17,449 25.8
    Vauxhall Vectra 21,874 24,319 -10.1
    Volkswagen Golf 21,112 22,304 -5.4
    Volkswagen Passat 17,085 11,827 44.4

    Top 10s

    HERE are the fleet-relevant performance tables for new car registrations in July 2006 from the SMMT.

    Top 10 petrol models

    Model YTD 06 (% change)
    1. Ford Focus 40,742 (-10.8)
    2. Vauxhall Astra 32,395 (3.0)
    3. Vauxhall Corsa 22,141 (-23.2)
    4. Ford Fiesta 22,031 (40.4)
    5. Vauxhall Zafira 16,943 (52.5)
    6. Renault Megane 16,048 (-28.6)
    7. Vauxhall Vectra 10,766 (-4.4)
    8. Peugeot 307 10,271 (93.9)
    9. Renault Clio 9,461 (-10.1)
    10. VW Golf 8,512 (31.0)

    Top 10 diesel models

    Model YTD 06 (% change)
    1. Ford Focus 21,833 (35.0)
    2. Ford Mondeo 19,003 (-6.8)
    3. VW Passat 15,997 (45.5)
    4. Vauxhall Astra 13,542 (-28.8)
    5. VW Golf 12,600 (-20.3)
    6. Vauxhall Vectra 11,105 (-14.4)
    7. Renault Megane 8,720 (-40.1)
    8. Audi A4 8,433 (8.5)
    9. Peugeot 307 8,418 (15.5)
    10. Audi A3 6,831 (23.6)

    Top 10 manufacturers

    Make YTD 06 (% change)
    1. Ford 128,160 (-0.4)
    2. Vauxhall 123,927 (-8.2)
    3. Volkswagen 61,904 (16.3)
    4. Peugeot 45,799 (25.3)
    5. Renault 43,128 (-30.2)
    6. BMW 29,908 (15.2)
    7. Toyota 28,514 (-13.6)
    8. Audi 27,019 (26.5)
    9. Citroën 21,888 (8.2)
    10. Honda 17,638 (-13.5)