Bodyshop – August 2019

16 BODYSHOP AUGUST 2019

Rob Donaldson, car editor Glass's, examines the UK political

environment’s impact on the car market.

Despite extensive negativity in the press towards diesel following the

emissions scandal of 2015, and a sudden resurgence of interest in petrol,

used diesel values have held up very well. Diesel cars remain a popular

choice for consumers due to their excellent fuel economy and generally,

they look good value for money. While new diesel car registrations

collapse, in the wholesale market, the conversion rate of used diesels

were on a par with petrol cars, indicating that demand amongst dealers

and traders remained strong.

High on the political agenda in recent months (apart from Brexit) is

climate change, with numerous public protests attempting to pressurise

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pollution levels. Of course, the car (those with an internal combustion

engine anyway) are in the crosshairs and especially diesels.

Today, diesels are being more penalised than ever before with higher

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Additionally, some councils now charge more for diesel cars to have

parking permits in urban areas. This makes the economic reason to own

a diesel car less compelling for the used buyer and it may be starting to

show in the wholesale market too.

It is possible that the used market is beginning to catch up with the new

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growing unpopularity of the fuel type rises? Alternatively, the wholesale

market may be resetting itself where an increased supply of diesel is

outstripping demand. It is worth remembering three years ago, the new

car market registered a record amount of new cars, it is logical that more

would end up in wholesale channels in this period. It will be interesting to

see how this dynamic develops over the next few months.

Diesel trends in

used car market

95%

85%

75%

65%

55%

45%

35%

May 18 Jun 18 Jul 18 Aug 18 Sep 18 Oct 18 Nov 18 Dec 18 Jan 18 Feb 18 Mar 18 Apr 18 May 18

First Time Conversion % Fuel Split

(Fleet Profi le)

% sold fi

rst time

Diesel 1st time con % Petrol 1st time con % Hybrid 1st time con %

Based on a respresentative sample of

current UK auction dtata but excludes

observations from British Car Auctions

Drilling down into

the data to focus on

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4.5 years of age, an

age group where

the bulk of younger

diesel cars sit and

encompasses

cars from the

leasing industry,

the chart to the

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dropping from

best performing to

worst performing

fuel type in this age

group in the last six

months.

REPORTDIESEL