UK automotive sector puts rest of Europe in the shade

Mike Baunton, SMMT interim chief executive, said: "The UK continues to perform well ahead of the troubled eurozone as consumer confidence, regular purchase cycles, attractive finance deals and wider market factors continue to make new car buying favourable for motorists." David Raistrick, UK manufacturing leader at business consultancy Deloitte, believed the UK remained "a ray of light" in a gloomy European market whose performance would be markedly worse were it not for the UK's bullish performance. While it would be a couple of weeks before the like-fo- like performance of the UK market could be compared with Europe, the first quarter provided "a startling level of perspective," Raistrick said. He continued: "The UK in the first three months of the year has closed the gap with Germany; from 210,000 cars to March 2012 to just 68,000 in 2013. The UK is now the second largest market for new car sales in Europe, with sales 39% ahead of France and 70% ahead of Italy. With no automotive green shoots showing in continental Europe, it will be natural for OEMs to be looking closely at the UK market over the coming months."