Each month, we feature a Connect report on one sector of the market, prepared exclusively for AM, based on what What Car? calls its 'target price' analysis - or the deals it says buyers can make in the showroom.

In the second in our series of features analysing individual market sectors in conjunction with the data marketing and insight tool, What Car? Connect, we look at family cars.

Family Cars: Average Target Price Discounts

Makers of these cars, typified by the Vauxhall Insignia and Ford Mondeo, opt for one of three ways to sell.

Some attract fleet sales with big discounts to score volume, others sell smaller numbers to retail buyers at fatter margins while a third group steers a middle ground in an effort to shield their models’ residual value and image.

Citroen, Vauxhall and Skoda are in the first camp, the 'target price' of a C5 20.2% below list, while Superb and Insignia 'target prices' are 13.0% and 11.2% below list.

Skoda and Vauxhall offer discounted PCP and hire purchase deals on top of these discounts, too.

Steering a middle ground are Ford, offering £1500 deposit contributions on Mondeos sold with Ford finance, and Peugeot with 0% hire purchase on the 508.

Volkswagen falls in this category too, with the biggest month-on-month increase in the average Target Price discount with a 1% gain in Passat discounts.

The low-discount, retail-oriented models include the Honda Accord (7.0%) Suzuki Kizashi (6.0%) and Mazda6 (5.5%). Kia and Hyundai don’t appear to be strongly drawn in either direction, restricting discounts by controlling supply.

This is an unusual sector in that movements in average 'target prices' don’t always reflect the popularity (or otherwise) among retail buyers of a particular car, owing to the segment’s heavy fleet orientation.

The overall average 'target price' discounts for the family car segment are 9.7% or £2,160 - roughly in the middle of the What Car? segments table.

'Target price' discounts in this segment have been increasing lately (up from a low of 8.7% / £1,955 per car five months ago) as a response to the pressure for increased sales volumes from Citroen, Skoda and Vauxhall.