Scottish car sales hit the brakes but remain in UK’s pole position

There was a sharp fall in new car registrations in Scotland last month even though the market north of the border is still outperforming the rest of the UK.

According to industry figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, 12,059 cars were sold in Scotland - 17.5 per cent down on a year ago.

That compared with a fall of nearly 20 per cent for the UK.

Industry leaders blamed the drop in part on consumers bringing forward purchases to avoid a rise in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED).

New VED rates came into force on 1 April, making all new cars - apart for those with zero emissions - subject to an annual flat rate charge.

Despite last month’s fall, Scottish sales were up about 1 per cent overall for the first four months of the year.

Dumfries and Galloway was the worst performing area of Scotland in April, with registrations down by more than 42 per cent over the year.

But the SMTA said year-to-date figures are running slightly ahead of 12 months ago.

SMTA chief executive Sandy Burgess said: “With the strong March and the added incentive of beating the new rules on vehicle excise duty (VED) coming into play on the first of April, there was always going to be something of an emergency stop in the results.

“The tail-off was evident across our dealers’ showrooms.

“There may also have been the double whammy effect as a result of the media speculation around the introduction of a new scrappage scheme to take the older, less-efficient diesel engine cars off the road.

“Ironically, of course, an introduction of such a scheme may well serve to bring a degree of ignition to the new car market.”

SMTA said a shift from diesel to petrol seemed to be gathering pace north of the border.

It added: “The strongest growth so far has been in the petrol/electric hybrid technology vehicles. This will be tested over coming months as these vehicles are heavily affected by the recent VED changes introduced by the UK Government on April 1.”