Hybrids are Flying Off Used Car Forecourts
Sales figures for September show that hybrid cars are still dominating the used car market. Car valuer Glass’s has released its latest fastest-selling car league tables for September – and hybrids are among the fastest sellers.
Top of the table came the Toyota Prius, which has now held pole position for two months. The Honda Insight was also flying the flag for hybrids, coming third, and the Lexus RX came in at number eight (a success which is largely due to sales of the hybrid version, says Glass’s).
Rupert Pontin, head of valuations for Glass’s, commented:
It will be interesting to see whether this situation continues over the coming months. The success of the Prius certainly highlights the value-for-money status of this model and reiterates the importance of low running costs to second-hand car buyers.
Cost-conscious families were out in force during September, says Glass’s. This has improved the fortunes of vehicles such as Vauxhall’s MPVs – two of these family-friendly motors also made the top 10. Pontin responded to this by saying that the Zafira and Meriva models now represent excellent value for money.
Pontin said: “Retail buyers have at last seen the appeal of this crossover SUV, but generally speaking these are in short supply.”
On average, buyers spent £16,511 on the top ten fastest selling used cars in September, and just £10,717 on the ten slowest sellers.
Mercedes-Benz has seen a slight improvement – for the first time in many months, the brand has no products in the ten bottom sellers, nor indeed in the bottom 20.
Upper medium models, however, fared badly. The Subaru Legacy, Seat Toledo and Subaru Outback took second, third and fourth places from the bottom of the table, a fact which Pontin blamed on “apathy” for this sector of the market.
