UK new car sales drop

The UK new car market declined by -4.6% in May with 183,724 units registered, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The fall reflects continued uncertainty over diesel and clean air zones as well as the removal of incentives for plug-in hybrid vehicles and the underlying economic and political instability continues to affect consumer and business confidence, said the carmakers’ body.

Declines were recorded across all sales types in the month, with registrations by private consumers, fleets and business buyers declining by -5.0%, -3.0% and -29.0% respectively.

Most vehicle segments experienced a fall in demand, however, executive and dual purpose vehicles bucked the trend, with registrations growing 9.1% and 16.0%.

While demand for superminis and small family cars fell, these vehicles remain the most popular taking a combined 56.3% of the market.

Modest growth in registrations of petrol (1.0%) and alternatively fuelled vehicles (11.7%) was not enough to offset the significant decline in demand for diesels, which fell for the 26th consecutive month.

Ongoing anti-diesel sentiment and the forthcoming introduction of low emission zones continues to affect buyer confidence.

Meanwhile, petrol electric hybrids experienced increased demand, up 34.6% to 7,785 units. Battery electric cars also recorded a significant rise of 81.1% yet this segment still only represented 1.1% of the overall market.

However, following recent trends, plug-in hybrids experienced another substantial decline, down -40.6% in May and -25.1% year-to-date.

Wales saw a -1.63% dip, the smallest fall on mainland Britain in May with 6,041 new cars registered.