Post-Christmas surge marks a positive end to the year
Visits to Auto Trader increase 12.4% year-on-year on Boxing Day, reflecting positive broader retail trends
According to the latest data from Auto Trader, after the traditional Christmas Day dip, consumer engagement on its marketplace surged, increasing 22% to 1.9 million cross-platform visits on Boxing Day (up 12.4% year-on-year). And then fuelled by the launch of its new multi-million-pound marketing campaign on Boxing Day, visits rocketed even further with a huge 2.2 million visits recorded on 27th December. It marks a 15% increase on Boxing Day, and a whopping 41% on Christmas Day – it’s also up 15% on the same period last year.
It’s very positive to see such an immediate response in consumer engagement following the launch of our marketing campaign. Reassuringly, what we’re seeing on our marketplace reflects the broader retail trend, with the latest retail figures indicating high-street footfall on Boxing Day was up 40% on last year. Given the tricky economic climate this year, this performance marks a solid close to the year and should give the market some confidence as we enter 2023.
As the UK’s largest online marketplace, Auto Trader attracts almost 68 million visits a month from people viewing some 450,000 vehicles advertised on the site. Below, it shares some marketplace highlights from 2022:
Black is the new… erm… black: black remains the most viewed car colour on the Auto Trader marketplace, representing over a quarter (26%) of all advert views in 2022. Grey was the second most popular with close to 1 in 5 (18%), and white was third, with 15%.
Fiesta feast: the Ford Fiesta has been the most advertised car on Auto Trader this year, with circa 108,000 unique listings. On the day Ford announced the end of the iconic range in October, there was a 7% increase in people looking for one on the marketplace.
Victory for voltage: although EVs represented just 2.2% of the total share of new and used advert views this year, there was a 29% increase in the volume of views on 2021. Petrol however continued to dominate with a 54% share (+3.1% in volume YoY) in advert views in 2022, whilst diesel represented 38.6% (-8.6% YoY), full-mild hybrid 3.1% (+23.5%), and plug-in hybrids 2.1% (+18.4% YoY).
Flying off forecourts: The fastest selling used car of 2022 was the Toyota Yaris Cross, taking an average of just 16 days to sell. Five of the 10 fastest selling used cars this year were electric.
Most viewed: The most viewed advert in 2022 was for a Bugatti Veyron priced at a cool £1.7m. It received 289,000 advert views. The second most viewed car was a Ford Ka with 260,000 advert views, priced at £2,000.
Hot hatches: the iconic Fiesta may well be coming to an end, but hatchbacks remain the most popular body type on Auto Trader, accounting for a third (33%) of all advert views in 2022. SUVs are in second place, accounting for over a quarter (26%) this year.
Hatchback goes electric: 2022 saw a fundamental shift in the hatchback space; whilst Ford announced they were stopping production of the iconic Fiesta, MG launched the wildly popular electric hatchback MG4: which received almost 1 in 4 of all electric new car enquiries in November.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing #1: when the snowstorm hit in December, interest in 4x4s on the site was up 64% vs the week before. The Ford Ranger was the most popular 4x4 during this period, with a 75% increase in advert views.
Hindsight is wonderful thing #2: when temperatures soared past 30 degrees in mid-June, over 2.4 million people looked at convertibles in just seven days – with the Porsche 911 being the most popular soft-top.
Most unusual car: that title is convincingly claimed by a black 1995 Cadillac Seville, imported from Japan and converted into a Buddhist hearse complete with gold and silver back, on sale for £8,000. It’s been four months now, and despite over 42,000 advert views, and national media coverage, it remains unsold.
Record prices = record finance penetration: the average price of a used car in 2022 was a record £17,548 (vs £15,204 in 2021, £13,538 in 2020, and £12,999 in 2019), resulting in a huge surge in used car finance penetration. In fact, there were 1.9 million interactions with used car finance calculators on Auto Trader this year, which is up 46% on pre-pandemic levels.
Cars per second: 2022 saw huge consumer engagement on Auto Trader, with an unbelievable average of 72 cars looked at every second.
Year of used: and finally, over 4.2 million used cars were listed on Auto Trader’s platform this year.
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