MORE expensive vehicles, including the Range Rover Sport and Volvo XC40, made a comeback in the new car leasing market after a year of consumers watching the pennies, according to new data from Leasing.com.

While ‘affordable’ leased vehicles (priced between £100-£300 per month) saw a 38% increase in enquiries compared to August last year, this figure is 59% for high-end vehicles (priced between £400-£800 per month). The trend suggests ‘return to normal’ spending habits amongst a growing number of consumers and a good sign that the UK continues to emerge out of the pandemic.

The British economy grew for five consecutive months up to June 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics, and Britain’s economic rebound is reflected in consumer behaviour, which is seeing motorists increasingly move towards upper end vehicles.

Leasing.com’s top 10 models by sales enquiry volume for August 2021 include the Range Rover Sport, Volvo XC40 and the BMW 1 Series – which topped the August Leasing.com league table. While the Vauxhall Golf, the Audi A3 and the Vauxhall Corsa continue to perform strongly, as they have all year, it is interesting to see the emergence of high-end vehicles which are beginning to rub shoulders with their more cost-effective counterparts.

Paul Harrison, Head of Partnerships at Leasing.com, said August’s data is promising for the UK’s ongoing recovery: “While we are still seeing the greatest number of leasing enquiries for vehicles under £300 per month, the migration to more expensive monthly rentals suggest some consumers are beginning to return to pre-COVID spending habits and rewarding themselves with a little more luxury after the difficulties of the last 18 months.

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“Motorists are increasingly turning to personal leasing to enable their next new car transaction. Our research shows that personal leasing is consistently cheaper than Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) over the duration of the contract for equivalent vehicles.”

Elsewhere in the league tables, enquiries for the electric Volkswagen Id.3 are up 93% as the model enters the top ten in 4^th position. In terms of the manufacturers, the top 4 is unchanged from July, while Skoda and SEAT have fallen out of the top ten in August.

Top 10 car personal leasing manufacturers:

1. Volkswagen
2. BMW
3. Audi
4. Land Rover
5. Volvo
6. Hyundai
7. Kia
8. Nissan
9. Mercedes-Benz
10. Vauxhall

Top 10 personal leasing enquiries:

• BMW 1 Series

• Vauxhall Corsa

• Volkswagen Golf

• Volvo XC40

• Volkswagen ID.3

• Volkswagen Tiguan

• Range Rover Sport

• Audi A3

• Volkswagen Polo

• Nissan Qashqai