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Currently Vauxhall dealers are experiencing a period of prosperity that has not been evident in the last twenty years. A recent report has put Vauxhall as the best selling car brand within Britain, good news for the dealers. With thousands of cars sold in the last few years they are currently outstripping the competition such as Ford and VW, in terms of sales. Added to this, the million mile test drive program seems to have been a success. Clearly getting drivers behind the wheels of their cars has proven fruitful for Vauxhall as a brand as well as individual dealers.
But why has Vauxhall experienced such a growth in its sales figures? Predominantly it has been through the efforts of the designers. While a Vauxhall of the past was purely a practical option, stylists have placed elegance and contemporary good looks at the top of their list of priorities. Estimates have placed Vauxhall with an almost fifteen percent market share, over one percent clear of their nearest rival, Ford. Dealers are obviously experiencing a boom time in terms of sales. This may however be changing for Vauxhall dealers, while sales in general may be up; a recent list of Europe's most popular cars for 2007 has been released. In first position was the excellent little Peugeot 207, although within the UK this popularity is not necessarily reflected. The Vauxhall Corsa still proves to be both popular Europe-wide and within the UK. Sales figures from dealers record that over 94,000 models were sold throughout 2007. Obviously buyers are increasingly swayed by this cars development and heritage as a small town run around as it becomes one of the 'old geezers' of the small car market. More worrying for Vauxhall dealers will be the continuing popularity of the Ford Focus over their competing model, the Astra; while the Focus still proves to sublimely popular as a small family car the Astra is still in its wake. In 2007, while the car did experience a growth in sales, dealers will still be worried by the 13,000 car deficit to rivals Ford. This problem will probably be exasperated by the fact that a new Focus will hit the forecourts of dealers in the next few months. The annual sales figures overall show a great year for Vauxhall. At the top of the chart is the seemingly unbeatable Ford Focus with 126,928 units registered. The Astra however places as runner up with 113,894 units registered, which will please dealers somewhat. The picture is repeated with the small car figures; Ford edging ahead of Vauxhall with sales of their Fiesta at 102,872 and Corsa sales at 94,120. Seemingly these two giants still rule the UK car market with only the Volkswagen Golf entering the top five from other car manufacturers. Dealers will be buoyed however when looking at the top ten registrations for 2007. As stated previously the Vauxhall Astra and Corsa placed second and fourth but just edging in at tenth was the Vectra; the larger saloon model with 50,983 registrations in the last twelve months. This means that Vauxhall have three cars in the top ten, more than any other car manufacturer. It is only Ford and Renault that come close with two entries each. The figures give an idea of the bigger picture, Vauxhall dealers have had a great year in terms of sales. They can safely say that they are the most popular brand in the UK for 2007, just taking the sales of the three top ten models they can boast figures of almost 260,000 units registered. While Ford is still the main competition, it seems at least at the moment that Vauxhall are on top. |
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