29% Increase In Luxury Car Registrations In The UK

Luxury car registrations, for brands like Porsche, BMW and Jaguar, were up 29% compared to 2014. This is reflective of the global market as a whole, where the super-luxury car market has reached record numbers with 28,500 units registered. A double-digit growth from 2015.

Ultra or ‘super luxury’ brands include Ferrari, Bentley, McLaren and Lamborghini. Super-luxury cars were also reaching new registration levels in the UK in 2016 at 4,600 units; an increase of 15.6% from the previous year.

Although brands like Rolls Royce and Bugatti are still classed as status symbols, research revealed that this may not be the only reason why the super-rich buy these makes. With registrations for luxury electric cars by Tesla increasing by 82% from the previous year, it can be suggested that drivers are in pursuit of the latest in innovation.

Luxury cars are ahead of the game when it comes to meeting the 2040 ban on diesel and petrol cars. Rolls Royce has said they are skipping hybridisation altogether, and are pursuing electric cars instead, which Torsten Müller-Otvös, the CEO of Rolls Royce, commented was ‘the way forward’. Maserati also announced last year the arrival of their first electric car model by 2020, and the CEO of Bugatti, Wolfgang Dürheimer, has also stated that “electrification will happen.” Specifically, the Bugatti Chiron looks to be electrified to enhance its performance.

The colour of money

Click4reg.co.uk also wanted to consider the nation’s favourite colour when it came to luxury vehicles.

According to an FOI response from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) released July 2017, the colour white is still favoured by the general populous, followed by black, grey and blue.

However, when it came to how the other half lived, it was revealed that luxury-car buyers often desire more off-beat, vibrant colours.

McLaren was most popular in orange (17% of all registered McLarens last year were in this shade). For Ferrari the most popular choice was predictably red (with a massive 44% registered in red), and almost 10% of all Lotus registrations were in the colour yellow.

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Of the luxury brands, Bugatti came out as being the rarest, with only 3 registered in 2016, and no information on what models these were.

British brands such as Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Bentley and Aston Martin proved popular with Brits, and accounted for 7% of luxury car registrations last year. Globally, British cars were performing even better, with Bentley alone accounting for 37% of total sales of super-luxury cars.

BMW came out on top of the luxury registrations in 2016. At the lower end of luxury, BMW has been able to achieve mainstream success, especially with their 5 Series entry-level 520d, which was the most registered BMW of 2016. Indeed, the 5 Series has been named by What Car? as a consistent winner at their annual Car of the Year Awards.

It therefore comes as no surprise that BMW reign supreme. Perhaps more surprising are the registrations of super-luxury brands like Lotus, Bentley, Aston Martin and Maserati, which have enjoyed increased registrations of 35%, 30%, 20% and 17% respectively since 2014.