It’s victory for voltage as Renault Zoe becomes July’s fastest selling used car

Auto Trader, the UK’s largest marketplace for new and used cars, has revealed that the 2016 Renault Zoe (electric automatic) was on average the UK’s fastest selling used vehicle in July. Taking just 18 days to leave forecourts, this marks the first time a fully electric vehicle has topped Auto Trader’s national top 10 list of fastest selling used cars.

In another “shock” win for alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs), an electric hybrid variation of the Mitsubishi Outlander MPV (2015 automatic) beat petrol and diesel-powered counterparts to become the fastest selling used car in London last month. It took an impressive average of just 12 days to make if from forecourts to congestion charge conscious Londoners.

Petrol and diesel however maintained their market dominance, with diesel proving its ongoing resilience, topping 8 of the 13 regions and countries tracked. What’s more, of all the vehicles making it on to the regional top ten lists, 54% were diesel.

There was a particularly healthy demand for used medium and large sized diesels, topping the list in the North West (2017 Mercedes-Benz E Class – diesel automatic – 22 days), South (2015 BMW 5 Series – diesel automatic – 16 days), South East (2017 Ford Kuga – diesel automatic – 21 days), South West (2015 BMW 1 Series – diesel manual – 27 days), Wales (2015 Nissan Qashqai – diesel manual – 30 days), West Midlands (2017 Mercedes-Benz E Class – diesel automatic –21 days) and Yorkshire (2015 Volkswagen Tiguan – diesel manual – 21 days).

Karolina Edwards-Smajda, Auto Trader’s Director of Commercial Products, said: “It’s extremely encouraging to see such a solid performance from AFVs in July, which is a great reflection of a wider softening of consumer resistance. There’s clearly some way to go before mass adoption, but with sales of ultra-low and zero emission cars growing 25.3% during the second quarter of 2018, electric and hybrid cars are fast becoming a desirable addition to forecourts. For both the used and new markets, education will be key to driving adoption; to help inform their customers of the many benefits of AFVs, retailers can use the details in our recently launched Electric Hub.

“Again, the data shows us that despite its new car challenges, diesel maintains a dominant position within the second-hand market. And it’s no surprise, as their greater fuel efficiency makes them more appealing to budget conscious consumers, especially when it comes to larger, family sized cars.

Hitting targets will always be determined by how quickly a retailer can turn their stock around and using data is the key to speeding it up. Users of i-Control, Auto Trader’s data management solution, took an average of just 29 days to sell a car in July, compared to a market average of 64 – 54% faster than those that don’t use the data management tool.

Karolina continued: “Featuring the right cars on your forecourt is essential for faster stock turn, which in turn is key to driving profits. Using data to complement your expertise can make all the difference in identifying the most desirable cars in your area.”

The UK’s Top 10 Fastest Selling Used Cars in July 2018: