AM has teamed up with What Car? Connect, the data marketing and insight service, to produce a monthly look at used car sales and target price data.

The biggest new car discount in Britain is for a BMW 7 Series, exclusive research by What Car’s Target Price team has revealed.

The saving of £18,650 was negotiated by What Car?'s mystery shoppers and represents a 31% saving off the car's list price.

The reason for the huge discount is that the BMW 7 Series is about to be replaced by a newer model, but What Car?'s Target Price research reveals that it is just one of several double-digit discounts achievable on BMWs.

As a result, the premium car manufacturer sits third among all car makers for the overall average discount available on its cars.

Others significant BMW discounts include a £10,719 saving off a BMW 640d SE, which is available for £52,411 against a list price of £63,130, and a £2056 saving on a BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics, which can be bought for £26,719 despite a list price of £28,775.

The biggest average discounts across a car maker's range are available on Volvos (14.7%), Renaults (13.6%) and BMWs (13.2%).

Across all sectors and manufacturers, the average dealer discount stood at a 12-month high of 10.3%.

What Car? editor Jim Holder said: “For months now, we’ve been told that the increased new car sales volumes mean that discounts will disappear, but the insight offered by our Target Price team shows that you can still get a healthy amount of money off if you are prepared to haggle.

“BMW is, rightly, perceived as a quality brand, so it may surprise new car buyers that they can bag some of the brand’s most luxurious offerings for much less than the list price. The fact is that the 7 Series is due to be replaced soon, so there are incredible discounts available. Using Target Price means that you can be bold when you step into the dealership because you know what you can demand.”

Discounts of cars in the luxury segment are particularly strong at the moment, with an average saving of 17% off the list price across the sector. This is an increase of 75% on the same time last year and is also largely down to BMW 7 Series discounts jumping from 9% to 29.3% on average.

City cars, small family cars and coupés, where demand is stronger, have all experienced a dip in discounting but cars in the small SUV sector, which includes the BMW X1, Peugeot 3008 and Suzuki SX4, can be snapped up for an average of 8.4% less than the list price.

Biggest discounts by car sector

City car
Suzuki Alto SZ3
List price £8,299
What Car? Target Price £6,999
Save £1,300

Small car
Fiat Punto 1.2 8v Pop 3dr
List price £10,175
What Car? Target Price £8,220
Save £1,955

Family car
Citroen C4 1.6 HDi 90 VTR+
List price £18,105
What Car? Target Price £14,674
Saving £3,431

Coupé
BMW 6 Series 640i SE Gran Coupé
List price £62,375
What Car? Target Price £48,277
Save £14,098

Luxury car
BMW 7 Series 740i SE
List price £61,675
What Car? Target Price £43,025
Save £18,650

Estate car
Volvo V70 D4 SE Nav S/S
List price £33,120
What Car? Target Price £25,791
Save £7329

MPV
Vauxhall Zafira 1.7 CDTi 110 Ecoflex Design
List price £14,135
What Car? Target Price £995
Save £4140

Small SUV
Peugeot 3008 1.6THP 156 Allure
List price £21,750
What Car? Target Price £18,177

Large SUV
Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 200 SE
List price £40,190
What Car? Target Price ££32,242
Save £7948

Executive car
Mercedes-Benz C-Class C220 CDI Executive SE
List price £31,130
What Car? Target Price £25,990
Save £5140

Convertible
Renault Mégane 1.2 RCe 130 Dynamique
List price £23,800
What Car? Target Price £19,971
Save £3829

Hot hatch
Skoda Fabia 1.4 TSI 180 vRS
List price £17,555
What Car? Target Price £15,369
Save £2,186

Visit the Target Price page for more information.