The UK’s true fleet market fell 25.1% in April as it bore the impact of three less business days, the usual hangover from the UK plate change plus the new Vehicle Excise Duty (VED).

The UK’s true fleet sector was down -25.1% year on year in April, knocked by factors including the new Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) system.

However, the figures from Dataforce show that it was the Private Market that took the hardest hit with a -28.5% and somewhat predictably the Special Channels had the highest April month on record with Dealership and Manufacturer’s contributing the most (setting their own record for April). Overall, the market was down -19.8% last month.

Within the true fleet market, Mercedes, Hyundai and SEAT were able to produce positive growth despite the challenging conditions. Mercedes rose two places to third after +5.1% growth, helped by the new E-Class, which more than doubled its numbers from last April. The A-Class also took first place in True Fleet model ranking and the brand also showed the highest year-to-date volume growth for UK True Fleet market.

Hyundai was up +41.0 on April 2016, taking it inside the top 10 (seventh place) for the second month in a row. Three individual models – the Tucson, Ioniq and the i10 – saw triple-digit volume growth for the month.

SEAT posted a rise of 52.9% for April, the highest growth inside the top 20, securing it 12th place. The Ateca secured 24.0% of SEAT’s volume, but the Leon and Alhambra also managed three-digit volume gains. SEAT also doubled its market share in true fleet; its previous YTD share of True Fleet stood at 1.19%, rising to 2.45% for this year.

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