New car sales: something has changed

[k333]

Remember the days when you could predict most of the top ten? Not now ....... just look at last month.

3. Nissan Quashqai - if you'd told someone at Nissan when it was released that it would one day be at number 3, they'd start doing google searches for psychiatrists and mental hospitals
4. VW Golf - a very sensible position for a very capable car like this but not where it used to be (which was typically just about in the top ten)
5. Audi A3 - never seen this anywhere the bestseller list before and haven't a clue if it is any good
8. VW Polo - given that this was for decades the most boring car in the UK and that nobody I know would be seen dead in it, the latest version really looks quite good with great engines .... until you see the name on the boot
9. Nissan Juke - well I quite like it ...... it's just plain cute and presumably works just fine like most Nissans, but someone here called it the ugliest car in the universe (or something like that). Ah well .....
10. Kia Sportage - I've clearly woken up in a parallel universe. A Kia in the top ten. Must tell my neighbour across the road who has had one since 2011. The dealers must be rushed off their feet given there must be so few of them!

So there we have it. No Renault, no Peugeot, no Toyota, no BMW. Also no Mondeo or Insignia. The car buyers have somehow started to buy more of the the cars that deserve it a bit more. Is there some conspiracy to get rid of fleet managers that I'm not aware of? Or something Osbornian that has recently made company cars and fleets in general much less attractive? There's a suspicion that something somewhere has changed, and possibly for the better

- K

[NomoneyNohoney]

Without any evidence whatsoever, I'd think it might be about insurance, economy and purchase cost.
I also have in mind, pension lumpsums that are now available - they used to talk about people blowing their pension money on Ferraris.
Perhaps that is really Kia, Polo and Nissan Jukes, chariots for the elderly.

[stooz]

Agreed, the nissans have massive company/ lease discounts on offer.
The next factor is the huge purchase deals with ballon payments.
I find the jeep offer currently makes a new jeep seem very cheap on monthly sums, but in 3 years people will be stung with a massive ballon in the region of 17k! Ouch.
The rest are down to fuel and the related 150000 miles a year sums they save you by buying economy.

[k333]

Agreed, the nissans have massive company/ lease discounts on offer.
The next factor is the huge purchase deals with ballon payments.
I find the jeep offer currently makes a new jeep seem very cheap on monthly sums, but in 3 years people will be stung with a massive ballon in the region of 17k! Ouch.
The rest are down to fuel and the related 150000 miles a year sums they save you by buying economy.

I'm sure this is true.

The main reason being that when the ballon letter comes with the demand for £10K+, they won't know what it means or where to turn.

Even CK (or I) might find it difficult to give helpful advice.

- K

[bungeejumper]

How is it that the ads hardly ever talk about the balloon payment? Some day they'll bring the car manufacturers to account for telling people that they can have a new Merc for £150 a month (or whatever).

It ain't true. You need the brain of an accountant and the backing of a solicitor to untangle some of these deals, and judging from what I've seen of my fellow citizens this year, many of them are beyond gullible. What hope is there?

Well, a bit. For a start, most people with a balloon payment will simply chop the car in and drive away in a new leased motor, so the final payment gets kicked down the road indefinitely. And it would be unfair not to note that some lease deals are extremely good value compared with stumping up the cash on the forecourt. My daughter is on her fourth leased Audi A3, and for somebody with no mechanical knowledge the prospect of having all maintenance and servicing included in the price can be very attractive.

But by golly, she suffers when it comes to fixing small problems. At her last change, the dealers stiffed her for £500 just to clear up a few minor dings on the alloys that most of us wouldn't have turned a hair about. And when the shell of her door mirror got clipped, that was another £400 for a complete new "official" unit. Compared to which, when my wife's Golf got dinged in the same way, I was able to buy an entire shell and mirror for £40, and sprayed it up myself in an afternoon.

(PS, OP: The A3 sportback is a Golf in a leotard, but still quite a nice car - it just doesn't go quite as fast as its looks might suggest. And some of the 'sports' body options will give you teeth-rattling suspension that you might regret.)

BJ

[BT63]

Qashqai is popular because:
1. It has tall doors which makes it easier to get kids in and out of their child seats.
2. It has a high driving position which people like nowadays.
3. It has SUV styling which is the current fashion.
4. It's cheap to buy due to huge depreciation.

Audi A3 is popular because it's one of the lower-cost ways to drive a badge. I read that Audi have an unusually large profit margin.

Big family saloons or their large hatchback variants like Mondeo or Insignia don't tick the main Qashqai boxes. Their substantial size makes them cumbersome in towns (especially shop car parks where the car is often too long and too wide to fit in a parking space) and their weight makes them quite thirsty on fuel. To meet CO2 emissions most big cars have to run on diesel which means they have particle filters which benefit from regular long fast motorway journeys to keep them in good condition.