22/07/2004

UK car prices see 'sharp rise'

The average price for a new car in the UK has seen a "sharp rise" of 5.4% over the last 12 months, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers and eurocarprice.com Index of New Car Prices.

The index shows that average retail new car prices in the UK last month were 4% higher than the average for Western Europe and 6% higher than the average for the euro currency zone as a whole.

The strongest Europe-wide movement in retail car prices was in Denmark where prices rose by 7.9% during the 12 months to June. The weakest price movement was in Hungary where retail prices decreased by 1.8%.

Generally across Europe, the average retail car price rise for the 12 months to June 30 was greater than the year-on-year rise to June 2003, as car prices on the whole rise more quickly.

The average pre-tax price of cars in the UK (converted to euros) rose 3.1% in the 12 months to June. Pre-tax prices in the UK are 9% higher than the average for Western Europe and 11% higher than the average for the euro currency zone. Pre-tax car prices in the whole of Western Europe rose by 1.9% in the year to June.

Shaun Pitt, automotive partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers said: "There is increasing evidence that pre-tax car prices are harmonising within the eurozone. However, vastly differing national tax regimes continue to inhibit convergence of tax-included retail prices. Outside euroland, exchange rate movements prevent any possibility of price harmonisation at either pre- or post-tax levels.”

(gmcg)

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