South Wales splurges on sports cars over lockdown

The UK’s largest used car retailer, CarShop, which has a store in Cardiff and ten stores across the UK, has revealed the results of its latest consumer buying trends survey from June 22nd to August 31st, 2020, following the business’ closure between March and June 19th due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The data shows that the number of used sports cars bought during these three months across England and Wales has significantly increased compared to the same period last year by 82%.

CarShop found that South Wales saw more purchases of used sports cars than any other region – with an increase of 155% on last year’s figures.

Locally, Rhondda Cynon Taf saw the largest rise – with an increase of 200% – followed by Cardiff with an increase of 100% and then Bridgend, which saw a rise of 50%.

The most popular sporty models bought were the Audi A5, BMW 2 Series and the Mazda MX-5.

CarShop also reported that the number of used 4×4 cars bought on a national scale saw an increase on last year’s figures, rising by 17%. In Wales alone, sports car sales increased by a steady 11%, with the most popular model being the Range Rover Evoque.

Residents of Wales are also spending more, according to the leading used car retailer, which found that average spend increased to £11,452 this year, from to £9,993 last year.

Mark Short, Head of Business at CarShop Cardiff, said: “The surge of sports car sales in Wales is incredible – in these distressing times, people are looking for something positive, fun and exciting to distract them from the current climate. Holidays are on pause, weddings and large family gatherings are postponed, so why wouldn’t you treat yourself?

“The steady year-on-year increase of 4×4 sales is also encouraging as residents of rural areas continue to buy practical, multi-purpose vehicles.”

Nigel Hurley, CEO of CarShop commented: “The bounce-back for the used car marketplace in terms of the British public’s confidence has been hugely encouraging. As other forms of transportation, such as airlines, suffer in this ‘new normal’, it seems vehicle sales are performing to nearly the same level that they were last year – if not, better.”

The insights mentioned in this article have been produced from an anonymised data sample of over 45,000 CarShop customers.