As the economy continues to recover Glass’s is forecasting that sales of new cars will rise by less than 5%  a forecast which is more optimistic  than the 1% growth forecast from the SMMT issued earlier this month

“The recovery is now underway, and provided nothing unexpected happens, we have every reason to be optimistic for 2014,” said Andrew Jackson, head of analytics at Glass’s.

Looking back at 2013 Jackson said that the big increase in private sales had, in part, been created by grey fleet sales. “During the recession businesses will have viewed the opportunity to reduce non-core expenses, and the management of fleets, as a fast and effective way of reducing overheads. “Whilst the perception is of booming private registrations and slowly recovering business and fleet registrations, the reality is that the line has been blurred as private new registrations are augmented due to company car allowances,” he added.

Jackson also cast doubt on PPI payouts contributing to the new car sales boom and said these payouts would have been used for spending on smaller items. He said the b and c segments would prosper in 2014 and crossover sales were also set for growth with new models from Ford, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz coming to market

originally taken from Motor Trader News