In May the best-selling used Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) at less than two years of age was the Renault Zoe, while the fastest-selling BEV was the Tesla 3. Meanwhile the fastest-selling used petrol/diesel car at the same age was the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa.

Diesel remained the fastest selling used car fuel type with a stock turn of 7.3x or 50 days in stock, with petrol close behind (7.2x) which shows the continued strength of demand in the market for the fuel despite European new car sales falling.

Sales rise as stock levels fall
Year-to-date to the end of May European used car sales were up by 24.5% over 2020 and 8.5% above 2019 reinforcing how buoyant the market is.
• Stock levels were 2.0% lower going into June compared to 2020 and 4.6% lower than May
• Spanish dealers saw stock levels rise from May to June by 2.4%.
• Portugal and Poland reported falls of 10.3% and 9.4% respectively.

There remains a particular shortage of cars around one-year-old due to the much lower than usual used cars coming from the daily rental and dealer demonstrator programmes because of the reduced 2020 registrations. Despite a rise in tactical registrations by manufacturers – up 21% versus April – shortages in this sector look set to remain for the rest of 2021.

Global semiconductor shortage
The shortage in used car supply could be further compounded by the global semiconductor shortage as new car production is dramatically reduced. This could mean fleets having to hang on to the current cars for longer.

The UK saw another month of super rates of growth in May (+224.2% YoY) as its late lockdown during the first wave of the pandemic meant used car sales were down dramatically in March, April, and May 2020. This strong demand against a background of reducing supply pushed up prices by 7.5% during May.

An exciting second half of 2021 ahead
“The used car market is pretty much back to where it was two years ago. However, with the added challenge of restricted new car supply some countries are going to remain short of stock for some time. Our insights show prices have been steadily climbing, particularly in the UK and this will continue if demand continues to exceed supply. The scene is set for an exciting second half of the year,” said Andy Shields, INDICATA’s global business unit director.

To download a full copy of the 13-country 20-page report go to www.indicata.com/corona

Click here to go back to the June news