Not the best of mornings to be buying or selling a new car. But December saw a big surge in sales and 2002 broke all records. Bumper sales though didn't mean bumper profits. With fierce competition from discount dealers, car makers have offer motorists more. Ten per cent discount across without asking nought per cent finance all sorts of consumer offers. Small was beautiful in 2002: what the trade calls super-mini cars like the Renault Clio, accounted for around a third for all sales. It seems that motorists were looking for cars that were cheap to buy and to run. Diesel models were also more popular, helped by tax breaks. They now account for nearly a quarter of all new cars. What didn't do quite so well was the market in sports car. Perhaps in these nervous economic times, boy- and girl-racers are bit thinner on the ground. After two record breaking years, the industry is now in a more cautious mood. The reality is the cheap loans, the feel-good factor- not necessarily there for the rest of this year, so I would expect to see around 2.38 million new cars this year. That's about a seven per cent fall-off from last year. Customers who were put off by the high cost of buying a car in Britain have now been won over by better deals, but with competition fiercer than ever, a motorist is well placed to drive a hard bargain. Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC News.


虽然不是买卖新车的最佳时期，但十二月销售额急增，2002年突破一切记录。然而，更多的销售并不意味着更丰厚的利润。迫于经销商给出的大量折扣，汽车厂商不得不给车主更多优惠。 董事会通过10%折扣，没有要求各类消费者预支丁点现金。 2002年小型车风景独好：业内称其超级迷你型,像雷诺克力奥跑车，占了大约1/3的销售额。似乎车主寻找着便宜、低能耗的车子。由于享受税收减免，柴油款也更受欢迎。现在，它们占了约1/4的新车量。 不景气的是跑车市场。可能在经济紧张时期，开跑车的人会更少。两年创纪录之后，业内更为谨慎。 事实是低贷款。感觉良好的因素-----并不能有利于今年的后几个月，所以我预计今年有约238万辆新车面世，这比去年约减少7%。 现在，英国因车价高昂而拖延购车的顾客们被更好的交易吸引过来，但竞争比以往更激烈，车主会拼命讨价还价。英国广播公司 Rory Cellan-Jones 的报道。