Electric shock as sales of cars finally on rise after 7 months
THE car industry received a boost yesterday as figures showed sales increasing for the first time since August – fuelled by demand for electric vehicles.
Record sales of e-cars and plug-in hybrids were behind last month’s rise – with nearly 284,000 registered, up 11.5 per cent on the same time last year.
It is the first month of year-on-year sales increases since August and bodes well for the reopening of dealerships next week as more lockdown restrictions are lifted on Monday.
Mike Hawes, of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said there is ‘optimism that consumer confidence – and hence the market – will return’ after lockdowns caused dealers to close and sales to slump. They have lost around £22.2billion in turnover since March last year and sales are still down by around 36.9 per cent on the March average between 2010 and 2019.
The total number of new cars bought last month rang in at 283,964.
This is almost 30,000 more than March 2020, when lockdown measures were first introduced. Most sales were made possible by ‘click and collect’ and delivery services. Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars hit record levels and took a combined market share of almost 14 per cent, up from 7.3 per cent last year.
During that time the number of models available to customers increased from 72 to 116. New registrations of electric cars rose by 88.2 per cent to 22,003, the best single month on record.
Plug-in hybrid sales rose by 152.2 per cent to 17,330, 40 per cent higher than September last year, the last best month for sales.
Among zero-emission sales the all-electric Tesla Model 3 was the best-seller, with the Vauxhall Corsa in the top spot overall.
The former saw sales of 6,585 last month and the latter 7,927.
Sue Robinson, of the National Franchised Dealers Association, said: ‘There is still significant pent-up demand and dealers are ready to deliver when lockdown eases on April 12.
‘As dealers will be able to safely welcome customers back to the showrooms in less than a week, April is expected to be a bumper month.’
However, while overall registrations were up compared to last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders pointed out that growth came largely from fleet purchases for business purposes, which saw a 28.7 per cent increase in registrations.
RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: ‘Despite the ongoing effect of the pandemic, when it comes to electric car sales March was a remarkable month – it was the best single month for sales of new zero-emission electric cars on record, beating last December by less than 100 sales.’