Despite the British summer weather looking rather bleak, July’s new car and van registrations were anything but. SMMT Chief Executive, Mike Hawkes, reveals the month wrapped up an entire year of non-stop growth in the new car market, while van deliveries reached their highest July level since 2020.

Electrified performance also impressed, with hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles accounting for more than a third of the new car market. The demand for battery electric cars was such that a new one was registered every 60 seconds in the month. Furthermore, according to the latest market outlook published today, this will accelerate to one every 50 seconds by the end of the year, and up to one every 40 seconds by the end of 2024. July has also been positive for battery electric vans, which saw registrations skyrocket 93.6% to achieve a 5.5% market share.

[Source – SMMT. 04 August 2023 . Summer of highs for the new car and van market – SMMT]

Other stories;

Demand for urgent action as cost of petrol hits £100 per tank

Rise in Google searches for oil and bonnet queries

Autocar have reported that the price to fill up a typical family car with fuel has hit the £100 mark for the first time, sparking the AA to call on the government to cut fuel tax by a further 10p.

On Tuesday, the price of petrol rose by more than 2p in just 24 hours – the biggest daily increase in 17 years.

The latest rise has sparked an angry response from AA president Edmund King, who has demanded the government “act urgently” to reduce the record fuel prices, which are “crippling the lives of those on lower incomes, rural areas and businesses”.

It now costs an owner of a car with a 55-litre tank, such as an Audi A3 or a BMW 3 Series, £100.27 to fully fill up with unleaded, and £103.34 with diesel. This has come after petrol prices rose by 1.58p to 182.31p per litre. Diesel prices rose by 1.48p to 188.05p.

The AA calls on the government to cut VAT by 10p as RAC labels rise a “truly dark day”

He has also called on ministers to introduce a fuel price stabiliser, which would work by reducing fuel duty when prices go up and increasing it when prices drop.

Image source: www.autocar.co.uk

King said: “A fuel price stabiliser is a fair means for the Treasury to help regulate the pump price but alongside this they need to bring in more fuel price transparency to stop the daily rip-offs at the pumps. The £100 tank is not sustainable with the general cost of living crisis so the underlying issues need to be addressed urgently.”

Meanwhile, RAC fuel expert Simon Williams labelled the fill-up rise a “truly dark day”, adding: “With average prices so high, there’s almost certainly going to be upward inflationary pressure, which is bad news for everybody.”

The price to fill up a typical family car with fuel has hit the £100 mark for the first time, sparking the AA to call on the government to cut fuel tax by a further 10p.

Sources: Experian Catalist, RAC.

Sanctions on Russia following its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine have also heavily contributed to rising fuel costs. Russia is one of the biggest producers of oil in the world and it supplied 18% of the UK’s diesel fuel last year.

This coupled with a weak pound and large post-Covid worldwide demand has caused prices to skyrocket. However, the wholesale price of petrol dropped yesterday by 5p, sparking hope of prices levelling out.

Earlier this week, AA fuel price expert Luke Bosdet claimed many drivers stayed at home over the bank holiday weekend due to the price rise.

Read the full article here – https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/consumer/demand-urgent-action-cost-petrol-hits-%C2%A3100-tank

[Source: Autocar, June 2022, https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/consumer/demand-urgent-action-cost-petrol-hits-%C2%A3100-tank]

Uswitch have revealed the most common Googled motoring queries in the UK.

The top three most searched questions about oil, the life blood of a turbocharger, are:

Oil is frequently overlooked as a critical component of turbochargers with oil contamination, lack of lubrication and oil leaks being amongst the most common turbo failure causes.

Often it points to an issue on the vehicle and not to a problem with the turbo.

Garages and repairers can save time and money by understanding oil leaks and identifying the root cause of the failure.

For more information take a look at common turbo failures: Common Turbo Failures – Overspeeding, Oil Contamination, Oil Leaks (melett.com)

Check out the full article from Uswitch here: The most Googled motoring problems in the UK (uswitch.com)