A rise in UK new car registrations this year of more than 1% will be due to forced sales activity and daily rental sales, not genuine retail sale, warns Kia Motors UK president and chief executive Paul Philpott (pictured).

He told Fleet News he believes some manufacturers are already heavily discounting their vehicles to push units into the market, encouraged by a stronger pound to euro exchange rate.

“Manufacturers have spare capacity in mainland Europe and their margins in the UK have increased because of the exchange rate,” Philpott said. “That could have an impact on the new car market here. There are already some big discounts out there.”

He added: “The market is forecast to be flat or a slight increase. If it increases by more than 1% it will be driven by other factors.”