2015 UK car market winners and losers

[RichardA]

Figures reveal that 2015 was a record year for new car sales in the UK but Honda's market share was down from last year and they're still behind Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai and Kia.

"2015 market share 2.06 per cent (down from 2.17 per cent)

At least Honda still makes cars in the UK, even if we don’t buy as many of them as we once did. Uncompetitive prices and even more uncompetitive CO2 emissions are key factors."

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/uk-car-market-winners-and-losers-2015

Hopefully things will pick up now that the new Jazz and HR-V are on sale with a new Civic to follow, and VED changes in 2017 should make the 'uncompetitive CO2 emissions' less of a factor.

[Rory]

Gosh, they had a terrible December - down 20% on Dec 14.  You'd have imagined new Jazz and some HR-V sales would have bumped things up.

[guest5211]

No real surprise if I'm honest.

The UK line-up of models is dreadful. No wonder nobody wants to buy them.

[John Ratsey]

Maybe they would have sold more of the HR-V had any been available. I don't know whether there are good stocks of the new Jazz but Honda lost some potential customers for the new model because people chose to save money and buy the last of the Mk 2 (but they still count as sales).

Honda need to address either the uncompetitive pricing (the recent price hike is a step in the wrong direction) or do some good marketing to highlight the strengths of their products such as the Jazz having more usable space than many vehicles in a higher segment of the market (although more rear seat knee room than an S class Mercedes felt to me like an excuse - perhaps the real reason for the generous space was to allow seats to fold without removing head rests).

[Rory]

Maybe they would have sold more of the HR-V had any been available. I don't know whether there are good stocks of the new Jazz but Honda lost some potential customers for the new model because people chose to save money and buy the last of the Mk 2 (but they still count as sales).

Although we still have the two Jazz in the family, we'd have almost certainly added a HR-V if it had been available a few months earlier (it was elsewhere in the world).   To be fair, timing wasn't the only thing - canning our excellent local dealer (TwoMills) and replacing them with a bunch of absolute muppets didn't help. 

Instead we bought a VW Tiguan.  And based on VW's recent news, we're probably going to be stuck with it forever!   Thankfully Mrs R is absolutely thrilled with it.

[guest1372]

we bought a VW Tiguan.

The Accords, Passats and Avensis (plural?) have disappeared from our street to be replaced with Tiguans and Yetis, the HR-V was late to the party.

Although B-MAx has not really taken sales from Fiesta, or Fiat 500(x,L) from the standard one, the desire for cross-overs is strong.
If you thought the range at Honda was looking skinny, Fiat only have Pandas, 500s and the van derivatives.
--
TG

[culzean]

we bought a VW Tiguan.

The Accords, Passats and Avensis (plural?) have disappeared from our street to be replaced with Tiguans and Yetis, the HR-V was late to the party.

Although B-MAx has not really taken sales from Fiesta, or Fiat 500(x,L) from the standard one, the desire for cross-overs is strong.
If you thought the range at Honda was looking skinny, Fiat only have Pandas, 500s and the van derivatives.
--
TG

ironic that Honda virtually invented crossovers with the original HRV - women like 4x4 vehicles and anything that looks like one,  seem to think they are safer than a 'normal' car,  just look how many women drive this type of vehicle to take the kiddlywinks to school.  Women have skewed the car market because they either seem to like ultra small cars like Micra, Mini and Fiat 500 or 4x4 size - and don't seem to go for the 'in-between' sizes. 

it is true that you can see over the roofs of normal cars when yours is on stilts,  but that advantage has long gone because there are so many taller vehicles on the roads now, it's a bit of an arms race .

[John Ratsey]

it is true that you can see over the roofs of normal cars when yours is on stilts,  but that advantage has long gone because there are so many taller vehicles on the roads now, it's a bit of an arms race .

For me, the height is one of the attractions of the Jazz which is only 3 inches lower than the HR-V. However, while the high position gives plenty of internal space it comes at the expense of aerodynamic efficiency compared to lower vehicles in the same market segment.

The fact that the Jazz has not got the class leading CO2 is not caused by sub-par mechanical engineering but by the more boxy shape. Hence back to the marketing needing to sell the strengths. That advert with the quad bike was a good example although a big chest of drawers might be closer to most people's needs.

[Rory]

ironic that Honda virtually invented crossovers with the original HRV - women like 4x4 vehicles and anything that looks like one,  seem to think they are safer than a 'normal' car,  just look how many women drive this type of vehicle to take the kiddlywinks to school.  Women have skewed the car market because they either seem to like ultra small cars like Micra, Mini and Fiat 500 or 4x4 size - and don't seem to go for the 'in-between' sizes. 

If you've got kids in car-seats and are using one of the modern "travel-system" prams then an ultra-small car doesn't work and indeed was a struggle even in the Jazz.  Moving grandchildren from one house to another became something of a juggling act.

We live in village right next to the school and the full range of vehicles are used to cart kids around, but only three 4x4's appear regularly.  Most common are everyday cars like Focus and Golf.

[madasafish]

We live on the edge of the Peak district so LOTS of 4x4s /SUVs outside school every day. Mainly Nissan Qashqai /Juke but L.Rovers and a Porsche Macan . Only one Honda CRV, the odd Range Rover.

Most people have deserted Honda as poor Value for Money. And outdated designs.

[Rory]

Got an email from the dealer today inviting us to an event this weekend where new Jazz is on offer for £199 deposit and £199/mth.  I guess that's the base S model (be nice if they made that clear) but it does say offers are available across the range.

I notice it also says the cars MUST be registered by 31st Jan - so they obviously have cars kicking around.