Further Price Rises for Britain’s best-selling cars in the ‘near future’

Parker’s is urging buyers to make the most of low prices currently available on new and nearly-new cars, as prices rises are likely later in the year.

Ford has warned that the new prices of some of the UK's best-selling cars prices could rise again this year - just weeks after putting up prices by an average of 4.7 per cent.

The firm has said that the cost of raw materials and the slumping value of the pound could mean that British buyers could soon be paying more for Fiestas, Focuses and Mondeos - one fifth of all new car sales in the UK.

Parker's Dealwatch - which tracks the best car deals currently on offer - shows that it's possible to by a nearly-new Focus Coupe Cabriolet for £12,995 (£5600 off), while brokers have Ka for £6789 (£1000 off) and S-MAX for £15,499 (£5996 off). Manufacturers have been offering heavy discounts such as these to clear massive stocks of cars – estimated to be as many as 500,000 cars across Europe – currently being stored at airfields, ports and warehouses.

Speaking to Parker's, Nigel Sharp, managing director of Ford of Britain said: "We will have to revisit our prices in the near future but we will be as fair as possible and give warning to people so they have a chance to buy and fix a price before it is raised. We have acted very quickly to take out production but it’s going to be challenging to cut costs on top.

Over the last 18 months we have seen a 30% decline in the value of the pound against the euro and that’s hurting us and making it more expensive to bring cars and raw materials into the country. We are not alone in this as the exchange rate affects electrical and electronic goods as well.”

Any price rise by Ford is likely to be followed quickly by other large volume manufacturers.