The UK true fleet market missed out on a third positive month in a row by just 29 registrations in June.

Dataforce said plug-in models such as the BMW 530e iPerformance are helping to drive the executive sector

Analysis by Richard Worrow at Dataforce shows the market was down by just 0.03% on June 2017 while the private market was also close with a 0.6% decline. Special channels fell 12.5% with the short-term rental sub-channel bringing 87.3% of that negative volume. Overall, the total market fell 3.5% to 234,945 registrations.

When it came to brand performance, only two OEMs kept their places in the top 10 fleet ranking. VW was first once again and secured growth with one extra registration over June 2017. BMW in second and Opel in third both had exceptional months with almost exactly the same growth percentages, BMW +46.15% and Opel +46.13% but BMW also saw its best quarter since Dataforce recordings began in 2004.

Ford in fourth and Mercedes in fifth recorded downturns but saw good individual performances from models, Ecosport for the former and GLC for the latter. Audi rose one place to sixth, compared to last year, followed by Nissan and Toyota, which was the other non-mover inside the top 10. Kia in ninth and Peugeot in 10th finished out the rankings with the Korean brand up by 12.7% and two places, thanks largely to the Niro and Stonic.

Dataforce also looked at the premium executive saloon sector, which recorded an excellent month, up by 50.6% compared to June 2017 and 14.0% YTD (year-to-date), and noted that the improvement seemed to be on the back of the downturn last year from increased VED and company car taxation, with 2017’s H1 figure marked out as the lowest for the vehicle segment since 2010. While 2018 H1 is still a little way off the high of 2015, it certainly looks to be continuing to improve, Dataforce added, helped by plug-in models for the 5 Series and E-Class.