Dealers are offering bigger discounts on large SUVs to keep the metal moving.
That’s the conclusion of the latest quarterly Target Price from What Car? which found that discounts in the large SUV segment rose by 6% in the three months to August.
Falling demand for big SUVs and the fall-out from diesel were leading to bigger discounts of 25% on some models.
However, overall discounts remained static at £2,550 (8.8%) with savings on superminis, family cars and executive cars falling.
The quarterly report revealed Seat and Renault dealers were offering the best savings across the quarter
Ford and Volkswagen feature in the biggest discounts list as they push to hold onto their sales leadership in a tough market.
Market analysis of over 7,000 models on sale shows discounts would have fallen further had August not been a bumper month for registrations.
Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: “Although overall discounts have remained static over the last quarter, our Target Price data has highlighted the pressures facing dealers, especially with changes to emissions regulations in August.
“When we compare Target Price discounts to market share it reveals the battleground in the market as rivals benchmarking pricing against each other to convince buyers to make the switch into their vehicles.
“It’s interesting to see dealers finally start to offer bigger discounts on large SUVs as traditionally these have been the hardest cars for consumers to negotiate on.
“The sector as a whole is still a growing market, but large SUVs tend to be diesels and the negative publicity and threat of future diesel taxes could well be having an effect.”
Top 10 model discounts (August 2018)
| Model | Spec | OTR Price | TP Price | Discount | |
| 1 | Fiat Tipo | 1.4 Easy | £14,320 | £10,515 | 26.57% |
| 2 | Volkswagen Passat | 1.4 TSI S | £22,195 | £17,019 | 23.32% |
| 3 | Vauxhall Astra | 1.0T Ecotec SRi | £21,210 | £16,385 | 22.75% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz SL | SL 400 AMG Line 9G-Tronic | £77,395 | £60,314 | 22.07% |
| 5 | Seat Toledo | 1.0 TSI 110 SE | £17,330 | £13,516 | 22.01% |
| 6 | Mitsubishi Outlander | 2.2 DI-D 2 | £25,920 | £20,223 | 21.98% |
| 7 | Peugeot 508 | 2.0 BlueHDi 180 GT auto | £35,170 | £27,635 | 21.42% |
| 8 | Vauxhall Mokka X | 1.4T Ecotec Active | £22,035 | £17,396 | 21.05% |
| 9 | Citroën C4 Spacetourer | 2.0 Blue HDi 160 Flair EAT8 | £30,285 | £24,562 | 18.90% |
| 10 | Volkswagen Golf SV | 1.5 TSI 150 GT Evo DSG | £27,870 | £22,731 | 18.44% |