Last year was not good for the car industry at all, and where every country saw a huge decline in car sales, the UK was no different. According to the figures, new car registrations fell by around 28.7% in the country. The cars sold were, 629,036, the lowest number since 1992, as the world was hit by the pandemic. But, surprisingly, the sales for both plug-in hybrids and electric cars were very good. The plug-in cars did very well and accounted for more than 10% of UK sales.
As compared to 2019, 660,142 fewer cars were sold last year in the country, according to the number from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. This was the largest year-on-year fall since 1943. The infotainment array is not as good as what you get in many rivals.
The biggest reason for the sales decline was the first lockdown, imposed from March to June, which forced many dealerships to shut down. The second lockdown, in November, was not much different, and the sales remained low, but the dealerships could continue providing click and collect sales. This service is still allowed by the government in the current lockdown. So, if we take this figure into account, the industry has suffered a loss of around £19.6 billion and the UK government has lost around £1.8bn in VAT receipts. We think that sales will be increase.
According to Hawes the UK car market did better than Spain but worse than Italy, France, and, Germany. But, it should also be noted that these countries provided some form of incentive to buyers, to boost the sales. The decline in the sales was even severe in the fleet and business sectors. Every sector of the market saw a decline in terms of total sales last year, except for specialist sports car, but some did better than others.