New car discounts of more than 16 percent are available ahead of the March number plate change, according to new research from What Car?. Electric vehicles including the Nissan Leaf are among models with the highest cash discounts available to motorists looking to snag a bargain.
Analysis of What Car?’s Target Price mystery shopper data found that despite the rising cost of living and high energy costs, manufacturers are offering significant savings on certain new factory order models, including some electric vehicles.
The Volkswagen Arteon 1.5 TSI R Line Fastback tops the savings list, with a cash discount of 16.7 percent, or £6,332 from retailers.
Motorists can also see major savings with the popular Nissan Qashqai 1.3 DiG-T Acenta Premium, with savings of £4,120, or 14.3 percent, savings.
The fully electric Nissan Leaf 110kW Acenta 39kWh is offered with the third highest saving of 13.2 percent, or £3,815 off the list price.
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The average cash discount across all makes and models ahead of the plate change is four percent, or £1,875 per car.
What Car?’s Target Price mystery shoppers also found certain models purchased via Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) finance can end up costing buyers less compared with if they bought it outright with cash, thanks to generous deposit contributions from manufacturers.
For example, buyers opting for a Fiat 500 1.0 Mild Hybrid can save 7.3 percent on the list price when buying via PCP finance, thanks to a £2,900 deposit contribution from dealers.
The Ford Ecosport 1.0 Ecoboost 125 Titanium is available with a 4.8 percent saving over the list price, thanks to a £1,250 deposit contribution.
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What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said: “The March plate change is typically the busiest time for the industry, and even with high energy costs for manufacturers, it’s clear there are some great offers to be had on popular new models.
“After months of limited discounts in the face of short supply, it’s great to see a buyer’s market returning.
“What Car?’s Target Price team constantly mystery shops the market to keep track of the latest discounts and highlight them to Britain’s car buyers.”
From March 1, 2023, drivers across England, Wales and Scotland will see the rollout of the new “23” number plate vehicle registration.
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This will be the first licence plate change of the year, with the “73” number plate being introduced in September.
In 2022, two new plates were launched, the “22” in March and “72” in September, as is now standard practice.
The number plates have to adhere to a number of specifications and requirements to be road legal.
For vehicles made after January 1, 1973, the front number plate must have a white background while the rear number plate at the rear must have a yellow background.
Numbers and letters must be exactly 79 millimetres tall and there must be a space between the numbers that mark the year and the three random letters.
All registration plates must be in a specific “Charles Wright” font which has been in use since 2001.
Characters must be 79mm and 50mm wide (except the number 1 or letter I) and the thickness of the character stroke must be 14mm.
The space between characters must be 11mm and the space between the age identifier and the random letters must be 33mm.
