New car registrations in February the LOWEST for more than 60 years

The continuing Covid lockdown sees new car registrations in the UK sink by 35.5 per cent in February to the lowest since 1959.

There is light and hope on the horizon for a return to normality as the mass vaccination programme in the UK promises to set us (relatively) free by the end of June, but the current lockdown is still playing havoc with new car registrations as we hit the twelfth month in a row where Covid has upset the cart.

In fact, new car registrations in the UK in February were the lowest since 1959, down 35.5 per cent on February 2020 at just 51,412 as car showrooms stay closed and car  dealers try to do business online with a frustrated and fed-up customer base.

But, as has been the case for most of the last year, sales of cars with a plug – PHEV and BEV – continue to grow and, partly because everything else is falling, increasing market share.

Registrations of plug-in hybrids rose by 35.2 per cent to 9,255 and electric cars by 49 per cent for a total of 9,776, and combined they took a 13 per cent market share, up from less than 65 per cent last year.

Despite that, the top three best-selling cars in February were the usual Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Nissan Qashqai, with six out of the top ten SUVs of one sort or another.

Mike Hawes, SMMT boss, said:

February is traditionally a small month for car registrations and with showrooms closed for the duration, the decline is deeply disappointing but expected. More concerning, however, is that these closures have stifled dealers’ preparations for March with the expectation that this will now be a third successive dismal ‘new plate month’.