New car registrations DROP by 8.5% in May – but diesel sales DOWN by 20%

New car registrations in the UK fell by 8.5% in May compared to the same period last year, but sales of diesel-engined cars were down a huge 20%.

We’ve got very used to new car registrations climbing inexorably upwards in the UK, so it was a bit of a shock to the system when they actually fell in April.

But there was an explanation, and that was the buying spree that went on in March because tax rates were increasing from April.

However, new car registrations have now fallen in May too, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) blaming the impending election for making buyers cautious, as well as a bit of a hangover from March’s bumper sales.

We’ll see in the coming months if they’re right, but perhaps the biggest thing to take away from May’s figures is a stellar drop in registrations of new diesel-engine cars.

Although the overall number of registrations was down by 8.5%, registrations of new diesel cars fell by a whopping 20%, meaning petrol-engined cars took almost 52% of the market with diesel just 43.7%. 

The gap between petrol and diesel was taken by Alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFV) which took a 4.4% market share with sales of 8,251 – getting on for 47% up on 2016. It’s clear buyers are deserting diesel in favour of AFVs, and we can only see that growing.

But despite the drop in registrations, and the change of favourite fuel, the Ford Fiesta still came out on top in May, followed by the VW Golf, Nissan Qashqai and Ford Focus.