New Car Registrations DOWN almost 40% in January 2021. And that’s an achievement.

As showrooms are closed again with the latest lockdown, new car registrations node-dived with 39.5 per cent fewer car registered than a year before.

January 202 was a month when the latest Covid lockdown closed car showrooms across the country, so it’s no surprise to learn that new car registration were down by 39.5 per cent on the same period a month before.

But even though the figures are dire for the industry, it’s testament to the creativity of car dealers that so many cars were shifted; when we had the first full month of lockdown in April 2020 numbers were down by 97 per cent.

A total of 90,249 cars were registered last month – down from 149,279 in January 2020 – for the lowest January numbers in more than 50 years, with private sales down by 38.5 per cent, fleet sales by 39.7 per cent and business sales by 56 per cent.

The drops were for ICE cars, with petrol down 50.6 per cent and diesel by 62.1 per cent, but electrified cars did much better.

Plug-in hybrid sales were up by 28 per cent and BEVs by more than 50 per cent, and combined they accounted for 13.7 per cent of total sales, with MHEVs also seeing an increase as car makers add little bits of electrickery to cars to make then more efficient.

Mike Hawes, SMMT CEO, said:

The necessary lockdown will challenge society, the economy and our industry’s ability to move quickly towards our ambitious environmental goals. Lifting the shutters will secure jobs, stimulate the essential demand that supports our manufacturing, and will enable us to forge ahead on the Road to Zero. Every day that showrooms can safely open will matter, especially with the critical month of March looming.