Surging car sales helped to boost the result after last year’s lockdown slump.
The world continues to be car crazy despite all the warnings about climate change and the increased investment in better public transportation. With travel restrictions and holidays cancelled, buying a new car seems like the next best thing and this is evident with the surge in car sales after the recent lockdown in the UK.
British new car registrations rose by 674 percent in May compared to the same month last year a report from Reuters just a few days ago. The past few months when car showrooms were closed during lockdown the sales remained below 2019 levels, industry data showed last Friday.
Car dealers reopened their doors to the public on April 12 in England this year but were shut throughout May in 2020.
Volumes stood at 156,737, boosted by business fleet demand, far higher than the 20,247 cars sold in May 2020 but still short of the 183,724 purchases made in 2019, according to a statement from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The industry has also been suffering from a lack of semi-conductor chips, forcing many manufacturers around the world to cut output in recent months.
“Increased business confidence is driving the recovery, something that needs to be maintained and translated in private consumer demand as the economy emerges from pandemic support measures,” said SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes.
The industry forecasts full-year sales of 1.86 million new cars for the UK.
Meanwhile Ernst & Young released this below statement to further explain the surge in car sales in England after the recent lockdown was lifted. Will the same surge happen in Malaysia after our current lockdown is lifted?
“May 2021’s new car sales were still 14.7 percent down on pre-pandemic sales in May 2019 and 13.2 percent down on the average sales for the month over 2010-19.
“May’s gain marked a third successive year-on-year rise in new car sales including an increase of 3,176.6 percent to 141,583 vehicles in April. However, this was from a base of just 4,321 sales in April 2020. This followed a gain of 11.5 percent year-on-year in March, which had been the first increase since last August.
“Consequently, new car sales were up 42.5 percent year-on-year over the first five months of 2021 at 723,845 vehicles. However, the SMMT pointed out that this was 296,448 fewer units, or -29.1 percent less, than the average recorded across January to May during the last decade.
“While COVID-19 restrictions have had an impact on new car sales since early-2020, a number of other factors appear to have weighed on new car sales recently: consumer and business caution over making major purchases, reduced demand for diesel cars amid environmental concerns and uncertainties over policy, and stricter emission regulations affecting supply at times.
“Indeed, new car sales only achieved one monthly year-on-year gain in 2020. As a result, new car sales fell 29.4 percent over 2020 with the total 1,631,064 vehicles being the lowest since 1992. Furthermore, the sales fall of 29.4 percent was the largest since 1943.”
