New car registrations UP by 11.6% in April 2023

New car registrations in the UK grew by 11.6 per cent in April 2023, the ninth consecutive month of growth.

As car makers find ways to deal with the fallout from stuff like Covid, War and Supply Chain issues, new car registration in the UK have been rising, and April 2023 markets the ninth consecutive month of improvements.

Although still down by 17.4 per cent on pre-Covid 2019, April’s figures are up by 11.6 per cent on April 2022 with 132,990 new cars registered in the month.

The rise in new car registrations was entirely down to a big jump in fleet registrations – up by a third on April 2022 to 68,537 – with private buyer registrations falling by 5.5 per cent to 61,342 but business sales up by 13.3 per cent to 3,111.

Sales of petrol-engined cars rose by 4.1 per cent (and petrol MHEVs by 9.7 per cent), with diesel decline continuing with a fall of 13.4 per cent and BEVs up by a whopping 59.1 per cent for a 15.4 per cent market share.

Despite that, there’s not a single BEV in the  top ten for the month, with the Ford Puma taking top spot followed by the Vauxhall Corsa and Kia Sportage.

Mike Hawes, SMMT CEO, said:

The new car market is increasingly bullish, as easing supply chain pressures provide a much-needed boost. However, the broader economic conditions and chargepoint anxiety are beginning to cast a cloud over the market’s eagerness to adopt zero emission mobility at the scale and pace needed.