Coronavirus impacts on March new car sales

6 April 2020  

UK new car sales dropped by 44.4% in March, a month that saw widespread closure of showrooms due to Coronavirus lockdown measures.

According to figures published today (Monday 6 April) by the SMMT, just 254,684 new cars were registered during March, representing a steeper fall than during the 2009 financial crisis. It was also the worst March since the late 1990s, before the market changed to the bi-annual plate change system.

The number of petrol and diesel cars joining the road were down 49.9% and 61.9% respectively. On a positive note, registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) rose almost three-fold in the month to 11,694 units, accounting for 4.6% of the market, while plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) grew 38.0%. Uptake of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), however, fell 7.1%.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “With the country locked down in crisis mode for a large part of March, this decline will come as no surprise. Despite this being the lowest March since we moved to the bi-annual plate change system, it could have been worse had the significant advanced orders placed for the new 20 plate not been delivered in the early part of the month. We should not, however, draw long term conclusions from these figures other than this being a stark realisation of what happens when economies grind to a halt.

He added: “How long the market remains stalled is uncertain, but it will reopen and the products will be there. In the meantime, we will continue to work with government to do all we can to ensure the thousands of people employed in this sector are ready for work and Britain gets back on the move.”

The SMMT has downgraded its interim market outlook for the year to 1.73 million registrations – a 23% decline on the previous outlook made in January and some 25% lower than the 2.31 million units registered in 2019.