Starting the season off with January's statistics (based on the SMMT figures for UK new car registrations in January 2011) turned out to be just about as bad as industry experts and most people in the trade were expecting, with the headline figure for the month being a 11.5% decline to 128,811 units.
In January 2010 the market, buoyed by scrappage, recorded a 29.8% increase on the previous year to 145,479 units with nearly 18% of these registrations being down to the scheme.
Overall the top 10 positions outperformed the market this month with the top two of BMW (a massive 67% up on January 2010) and Mercedes (a huge 25% up on last year) being streets ahead of the competition. In third place with a rather more modest 7% increase is Skoda. In fact only the top 6 managed to improve on January 2010 and where it not for Citroen coming in at 6th with a 4% increase on last year it would have been a clean sweep of German owned manufacturers.
Despite finishing top in December we have lost Mini this month after their 1,614 (24% down) registered units took them out of the top twenty, swapping places with SEAT back in at number 5 with a 5% increase.
Bad news this month for Hyundai and Kia as they prop up the first table of the year and, perhaps surprisingly, VW who sink to 16th with a miserable 26% decline.
A pretty miserable month but in line with SMMT expectations and, as they say, marks the beginning of a "challenging year".
That's good we like a challenge!