Cox Automotive is predicting a used automobile market of seven.64 million units within the UK this 12 months in consequence of continued stability and the information feeding in from latest automobile market forecasting.
While this represents a flat year-on-year performance, it stays 3.6% above the long-term average from 2001 to 2019, reinforcing the used market’s role as a stabilising force amid wider industry volatility.
Despite ongoing supply challenges, particularly for vehicles aged three to 5 years, the market is showing signs of resilience.
Supply constraints expected to ease in H2
Supply constraints, largely a legacy of pandemic-era production slowdowns, are expected to ease within the second half of the 12 months, offering retailers renewed opportunities to satisfy consistent consumer demand.
Stabilisation of trade values
An extra positive signal for the industry is the continued stabilisation of trade values.
Cox now sees values returning to more typical seasonal patterns, particularly for petrol and diesel models. vehicles aged between 24 and 72 months old, values have remained consistent over the previous 18 months. Specifically, petrol values stayed flat – 60% of original cost latest (OCN) in April 2025 versus 60% in October 2023 – a marked difference from the 6% dip that petrol vehicles saw between October 2022 and October 2023. Meanwhile, hybrid values declined by only 4% in the identical period and diesel by 7%.
Philip Nothard, insight director at Cox Automotive, said: “The used market continues to supply an important anchor for the automotive sector.
“As trade values stabilise and consumer appetite for reasonably priced vehicles stays strong, retailers have a transparent opportunity to set robust retail prices, where market conditions support them, and maximise their margins.
“Strategic stock selection and robust retail pricing can be crucial to sustaining profitability in a supply-constrained environment.”
The business vehicle sector also stays robust.
Diesel continues to dominate, but electric vans are gaining ground, with a 62.6% increase in arrivals at Manheim sites in Q1 2025.
Nonetheless, infrastructure concerns and value sensitivity proceed to limit buyer confidence, with only 4 in 10 electric vans selling first time.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
