‘British’ brands left to take a back seat

If you ever wondered which nations ride highest in the UK car sales charts, a major insurer claims to have worked it all out. But is it as clear-cut as it seems? According to AXA, so-called “British” car brands are now less popular in their home country than at any time in the past 20 years, having been overtaken by their German counterparts and only narrowly outselling French, Japanese and American brands.

The analysis of 30 million vehicle registrations since 1994 shows that at their height that year, British car brands such as Vauxhall and Land Rover accounted for almost one in three cars on the road (6.6 million), compared to Germany’s nine per cent (two million) and Italy’s three per cent (0.6 million).

Following 18 years of declining popularity among UK drivers, however, “British” brands accounted for less than 20 per cent of all cars on the road in 2010. Over the same 18-year period, German car sales increased significantly, making up 19 per cent of all cars on UK roads and more than doubling as a proportion. In 2011, German cars finally took the crown, says AXA, and their popularity has continued to rise, accounting for more than one in five (22 per cent) cars on UK roads in the third quarter of 2014.

In the past year, Romanian cars manufactured by Dacia more than tripled in popularity, rising from 10,946 vehicles registered in Q3 2013 to 33,246 in Q3 2014, although they still make up only a tiny fraction of all cars on UK roads (0.11 per cent, up from 0.04 per cent in 2013). Czech car sales (fuelled entirely by Skoda) have also more than tripled in popularity during the past 20 years.

But which nations do well-known “German”, “Romanian” — or “British” — marques really belong to? The picture is opaque. Skoda, for instance, has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the VW Group — of Germany — since 2000. And while Dacias are indeed Romania’s main export, the firm was bought by Renault, of France, in 1999. Is Rolls-Royce a British marque when it’s owned by BMW of Germany, and how British are UK-build Land Rovers when the firm has been owned by Tata Motors of India since 2008? Don’t forget all the “Japanese” Hondas, Nissans and Toyotas now proudly built in Britain.

“Exactly what a British car is has become harder to define because of the number of takeovers, mergers and factory moves,” admits Roman Bryl, propositions manager at AXA. “For our research, we matched brands with their original country of origin. So because a Land Rover was originally a British brand and is still perceived as such, it was logged as a British brand despite its current Indian ownership.”

The figures must not detract from the huge successes of the UK’s booming motor industry either, as a report this week from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reminds us. It shows that British cars are being made with a growing number of British-sourced parts as the UK automotive industry’s renaissance gathers pace. Domestic component makers sold 19 per cent more products to UK vehicle producers last year than in 2013.

“The figures are an important step in the right direction for the UK automotive supply base,” says the SMMT.

“Currently around one-third of components in a UK-built car are domestically sourced.”

That might well compare to more than 90 per cent in the mid-Seventies, but in fact vehicle manufacturing in the UK is now undergoing rapid growth, with British car production increasing by more than 50 per cent since 2009, creating new opportunities for domestic suppliers.

The SMMT report identifies a further £4 billion-per-year opportunity for UK automotive suppliers to expand their business in the coming years.