New car sales fall again in March to make it a year of decline

The UK’s new car market shrank by 15.7 per cent in March compared with the same period in 2017.

It marks a year in decline for the country’s new car sales, as a variety of factors including Brexit uncertainty, changes to vehicle tax rates and the so-called ‘demonisation of diesel’ cause buyers to hold off on upgrading their vehicle.

The figures, released today by industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), show that demand for diesel vehicles fell by 37 per cent, but petrol and alternatively fuelled vehicles saw sales rise by 0.5 per cent and 5.7 per cent respectively. Of the latter, plug-in hybrids fuelled the most growth – sales rose by 18.2 per cent.

Despite the drop, though, the SMMT said registrations were still at a ‘historically high level’ and noted that March was still the fourth biggest month on record. The high level of decline follows a record-breaking 2017, as car buyers scrambled to buy new vehicles before changes to vehicle tax last April.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: “March’s decline is not unexpected, given the huge surge in registrations in the same month last year. Despite this, the market itself is relatively high, with the underlying factors in terms of consumer choice, finance availability and cost of ownership all highly competitive.

The Ford Fiesta remained the country’s favourite car, with 19,272 units sold in March alone. It beat the Volkswagen Golf and Nissan Qashqai, which saw 13,966 and 12,018 units shifted respectively.