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Summary
- New car registrations in February fell 35.5 per cent annually, SMMT data showed.
- SMMT fears that March, which is traditionally a busy month for new registrations, would also do dismal business.
In what is being called the worst month for car sales since 1959 in the UK, new car registrations in February fell 35.5 per cent annually as prolonged lockdowns kept dealerships closed for the people. The volume of new car registrations stood at 51,312 cars, 28,282 cars less than the number seen in February 2020, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) data showed.
Most non-essential retail shops have largely remained out-of-bounds for people for over a year now due to lockdowns that have been imposed on and off. Car showrooms have also had to close, though some dealers have shifted online to continue the business.
Showrooms would continue to remain closed in March. Though February is traditionally a month of low sales, March sees 20 per cent of the annual registrations taking place as the licence plate series changes during this period.
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SMMT CEO Mike Hawes said that the lockdown has made it impossible for dealers to prepare for March and most expect that this would be the third instance of an unsuccessful month for new registrations.
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He said that the government has laid out an exit process from the ongoing lockdown alongside a successful vaccination drive, and most dealers have a fruitful experience of the online space. But it is still necessary for showrooms to resume offline business to recover from last year’s £23 billion losses.
Also read: New car registrations in Britain dropped but EV sales up, says SMMT
There was also an uptick in the number of consumers opting for greener options. More than one in eight registration were battery electric (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), which accounted only for 5.7 per cent of the registrations in February 2020.
The automobile sector had also reached out to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak before his budget for support, as production levels were at their lowest since January 2009.
The SMMT had asked for the extension of the furlough scheme that protects livelihoods. The SMMT had also demanded more government support for training, and investment could be boosted by reforming business rates tax.
The Budget 2021 announced that the headline corporation tax rate would increase to 25 per cent for profits over £250,000 from April 2023. British FM Rishi Sunak also announced a two-year tax deduction for companies who would invest in new machinery of factories.
