LONDON, May 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – New car registration in Britain plunged by 97.3 percent in Apr, hitting record low in decades, as the nation was in lock-down for the entire month to tackle COVID-19.
With showrooms closed and car buyers housebound, just 4,321 new cars were registered in the month, merely above the 4,044 units sold in Feb 1946, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Many new cars were delivered to key workers and front line public services and companies, the SMMT said, adding that, fleet orders represented by far the bulk of the market, taking 71.5 percent market share, equivalent to 3,090 units.
Suffering from the steepest fall of modern times, the SMMT downgraded market forecast for 2020 to 1.68 million registrations, putting the sector on course to record its worst performance since 1992.
“With the UK’s showrooms closed for the whole of Apr, the market’s worst performance in living memory is hardly surprising,” said Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT.
The car industry called for auto retail to be in first wave of re-openings, to drive manufacturing and kick-start economic recovery.
