New Car Registrations BOUNCE back in July – up 11.3% on 2019

New car registrations in the UK bounced back in July as pent-up demand from the Covid-19 lockdown saw numbers up by 11.4 per cent on July 2019.

New car registrations in the UK have been woeful in the last few months as car makers and car dealers were locked down as the Covid-19 pandemic wrought havoc on the industry, with the nadir coming in April with just 4,000 sales in the whole UK.

Figures for May and June, although poor, were rising and now, with car makers sort of back up and running and car dealers open and desperate for business, the pent-up demand from the last few months has seen new car registrations in July do a bounce (hopefully not a dead cat bounce) to 174,887, up by 11.3 per cent on the same period in 2019 and the first year-on-year rise of 2020.

The jump in sales in July is down to private buyers finally being able to scratch their new car itch properly, with a rise of 20.4 per cent, and although fleet sales rose slightly (by 5.2 per cent) business sales were down by 11.8 per cent.

The big jumps came with sales of BEVs and PHEVs (up 259 per cent and 320 per cent respectively), with petrol sales pretty much static and diesel sales falling 25.9 per cent.

Mike Hawes, SMMT boss, said:

July’s figures are positive, with a boost from demand pent up from earlier in the year and some attractive offers meaning there are some very good deals to be had. We must be cautious, however, as showrooms have only just fully reopened nationwide and there is still much uncertainty about the future.

Figures in the coming months will tell us whether July’s encouraging sales are a pointer to recovery or simply a result of such low sales in the last few months.