New UK Car Registrations BOOM by 674% in May – but still down on May average

New car registration in the UK in May rose by a whopping 674 per cent as car showrooms re-open, driven by fleet sales.

The headline numbers are that UK new car registrations rose by 674.1 per cent in May, but it’s more a case of registrations returning to normal, with car showrooms open for the whole of May when May 2020 saw them in lockdown.

Despite the big jump in numbers, which was expected, registrations are still down on a 1o-year May average by 13.2 per cent, but there’s a sneaky suspicion that may have something to do with chip shortages stifling supply.

The return to more normal registration figures is driven by fleet sales – accounting for just over 50 per cent of all registrations – and the anomaly of a decline in market share for BEVs – down from 12 per cent in May last year to 8.4 per cent last month – is explained by firms like Tesla able to deliver contactless sales when physical dealers were closed. Petrol car registrations accounted for 60.4 per cent of registrations and diesel just 18 per cent (including MHEV) with the rest made up of hybrids and BEVs.

Top of the tree for registrations was the VW Golf, followed by the Vauxhall Corsa and VW Polo, with the UK’s long-standing favourite – the Ford Fiesta – down in seventh spot, although still in second spot behind the Corsa year to date.

Mike Hawes, SMMT CEO, said:

May’s registrations are as good as could reasonably be expected. Increased business confidence is driving the recovery, something that needs to be maintained and translated in private consumer demand as the economy emerges from pandemic support measures.

Demand for electrified vehicles is helping encourage people into showrooms, but for these technologies to surpass their fossil-fuelled equivalents, a long term strategy for market transition and infrastructure investment is required.