Dramatic changes in buying habits emerged from UK car sales figures for June, the first full month that car retailers have been open post-lockdown.
UK new car sales fell 34.9% year on year in June. The figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), announced earlier this week, show a significant improvement over April and May (down 97% and 89% respectively) but are still far from the industry's hoped-for comeback, after being out of action for more than two months.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes described June’s new car sales as “not a recovery and barely a restart.” He added: “Many of June’s registrations could be attributed to customers finally being able to collect their pre-pandemic orders, and appetite for significant spending remains questionable.”
There were 145,377 new cars sold in June, a decline of 78,044 units over June 2019. For the year to date, the market has fallen by almost half (48.5%), with 653,502 new cars sold in the first six months making it the lowest level since 1971.
However, while the decline certainly reflects economic uncertainty, UK-wide retailers are not yet fully up and running. Only English dealerships were open for the full month, with delayed reopenings for Welsh and Scottish showrooms. In England, one in five retailers remains shut and reports suggest upwards of 30% of sales staff remain on furlough.
The irregularities of the top 10 best-selling cars from the past few months started to normalise in June, with the main players, the Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Fiesta, back at number one and two spots.
That’s in stark contrast to April, when the Tesla Model 3 - never before even listed in the top 10 - became the best-selling car, with 658 sold. This was thanks to socially distanced delivery of a number of pre-ordered sales before the lockdown. Nevertheless, the electric Model 3 remains at number nine in June’s top sellers.
Tesla is one of just two manufacturers that have managed to grow UK sales in the first six months of 2020. The other is underdog MG, which has long been off the radar for most UK buyers. Thanks to its ZS EV - another electric car - MG achieved its best yet June volume, with 2025 cars sold and a record monthly market share of 1.4%.
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What I reckon
is that most people aren't going to spend their potential "redundancy package" on a car or a holiday, what they might spend it on are creature comforts like upgrading their home cinema setup or their "hobby" paraphernalia etc etc. Why commit to spending for 3 years or more at this time unless you are already rich, which means that "world events" don't impact you and never have. Charging 60k for bottom of the range vehicles ain't doing much to improve cynicism either.
Rubbish....
.... I love these meaningless stats.....what is the point of comparing June 2019 to June 2020? !!!
Ridiculous.
Very few Dealerships were open for the full month of June - Vertu Group were one of the most organised (no surprise there).
Tesla dont sell through dealerships, -so thats a complete red herring. Of course Tesla will have a peak in registrations..... they had outstanding orders and a remote delivery solution, so they will look good when everyone else is in Lockdown.
In short there is absolutely nothing to be learnt from June's SMMT numbers. Its too early to do anything other than to survive from day to day.
The heads of the retailers
The heads of the retailers seem rather more optimistic and reasonable about the situation than Mike Hawes does.
What a surprise.