UK’s best selling car post-pandemic

The latest Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders(SMMT) data for April 2021 alone has shown great recovery for the UK’s automotive industry which entails the UK economy re-opening slowly back to normality driven by inoculation and reduction of COVID infections. Notably, the Vauxhall Corsa was the most popular car in April which sold nearly 4000 units after being shut down for almost three months.

There were 141,583 new cars were registered in April, compared with 4,321 in the same time period a year ago, according to the SMMT data. Despite the jump, sales are still down 12.9% on the 2010-2019 average. Fortunately, the re-opening of the UK economy has slightly lifted the forecast for registrations this year with 1.86 million per SMMT estimates prior to 1.83 million back in February. Pantheon Macroeconomics sees the parabolic numbers of registrations in April might have just pushed people to collect their cars bought early this year during the re-opening of showrooms last month.

In addition, electric cars (EVs) recorded a more subtle 556% year-on-year rise, but SMMT figures show that their market share is up 3.2% year-to-date, at 7.2%. The adoption for EV is slightly taking up some considerable slice in the market.

Sales plummeted down to 97% to just 4,321 vehicles in April last year, at the height of the pandemic and a month into the first national lockdown. This was the lowest level of any month since February 1946 as factories and showrooms were shuttered.

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, said SMMT boss Mike Hawes, the pandemic has brought one of the darkest times in the UK’s automotive industry. With the reopening of showrooms, car buyers are being able to visit dealerships, and demand for driving licenses which can further fuel the recovery.