By WhichEV
The UK’s new car market recorded a significant upturn, marking its 20th consecutive month of growth, with new car registrations climbing by 10.4%. This surge resulted in 317,786 new cars being registered, all sporting the new ’24’ numberplate, indicating the strongest March since 2019. However, this achievement still trails behind the pre-pandemic figures by 30.6%.
This period of growth predominantly stems from fleet investments, which saw a 29.6% increase. Despite this positive trend, the sector faces challenges with a downturn in private buyer registrations by 7.7%, affected by the prevailing economic difficulties, low consumer confidence, and heightened interest rates. Additionally, small business registrations experienced a decline of 8.0%.
Although petrol cars still sell and diesel continues to dwindle, there was a noteworthy surge in the registration of vehicles with an electric motor – led by hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) registrations, which hit a record 19.6% increase, totalling 44,550 units or 14.0% of the market share.
