Sales slowdown continues into May

Personal new automobile product sales were down by 10% in Could as offer shortages mixed with value of living concerns to limit new car or truck spending.

According to information released this morning by the Culture of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), personal new vehicle registrations had been down 10% in Could when compared to the identical thirty day period previous calendar year. Mixed with fleet registrations getting down by 30%, this meant the all round sector was down by just over 20%.

Year-on-12 months comparisons are continue to tricky to judge, as each 2020 and 2021 have been poorly afflicted by factory shutdowns and dealership closures many thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. But even making it possible for for the steady decrease in new car or truck gross sales considering that 2016, it’s clear that the sector is still down on wherever we’d count on it to be.

Car makers prioritising personal consumers over fleets

Vehicle makers continued to prioritise retail consumers forward of fleet buyers in May perhaps, as they have been doing for most of this year. That’s superior news for waiting instances for individuals, but not so good for shoppers leasing a new auto by a broker or significant leasing company.

In a time of restricted manufacturing, car or truck makers are enjoying the advantages of selling more vehicles to retail customers, who fork out entire selling price (or shut to comprehensive price) relatively than fleets who hope substantial discounts in return for buying 1000’s of vehicles. This also influences the varieties of automobiles offered, as personal purchasers have a tendency to favor more compact cars and trucks, SUVs and EVs when fleets are likely to (proportionally) acquire far more plug-in hybrids, diesels and more substantial automobiles.

Electric vehicles even now marching forward

The existing market conditions are also aiding the sale of electrical motor vehicles, via a combination of motor vehicle organizations prioritising them, consumers seeking them and less supply chain hold-ups.

Plug-in hybrid profits were being flat, as were being regular hybrids. Equally have generally managed industry share in line with previous months this yr, but are not escalating as rapid as thoroughly electric powered cars and trucks. This is not massively surprising, as most of the massive nee developments in electrified designs are qualified at whole EVs rather than partial EVs.

Diesel’s current market share trundles together at about 10-11%, and looks to have levelled out for the time being immediately after 5 several years of falls. Petrol’s sector share is now starting off to steadily slide as prospective buyers switched to electrified motor vehicles, even though it remains the dominant participant in the new motor vehicle marketplace with much more than 50 percent of all registrations.

Fantastic month, poor month

Inspite of an total marketplace tumble of 20%, some makes coped better than many others – largely a purpose of how lots of semiconductor chips they have been in a position to protected to keep constructing automobiles. Over-all, Ford has re-establised itself at the top of the market with a different stable month, bouncing back following a horrible close to previous yr. Kia continues to keep 2nd spot over-all, ahead of Audi, Volkswagen and BMW.

When compared to the general current market, it was a great thirty day period for Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Alpine, Bentley, Citroën, Cupra, Dacia, DS Automobiles, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Maserati, MG, Mini, Nissan, Polestar, Porsche and Wise. All of these makes outperformed the market by at the very least 10%.

However, existence wasn’t so rosy for Fiat, Honda, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lexus, Mazda, SEAT, Skoda, Subaru, Suzuki, Volkswagen and Volvo, who all underachieved by at minimum 10% in opposition to the relaxation of the market.

As we’ve warned earlier, source challenges will proceed to plague the new car industry for at minimum the rest of this 12 months, so we’ll proceed to see some topsy-turvy benefits.

Corsa on course

With five months of the yr down by now, the Vauxhall Corsa is steadily edging distinct in the race for the UK’s best-selling motor vehicle of 2022 right after returning to the best of the product sales charts in May perhaps.

Similarly, the next-put Ford Puma is edging away from the Nissan Qashqai in third, whilst the Mini hatchback has overtaken the Kia Sportage for fourth spot in yr-to-day sales.

The Volkswagen Golf made a comeback, reappearing in the prime 10 for the first time in a handful of months. Likely in the other course, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class has now fallen out of the prime ten in 12 months-to-date sales soon after one more gradual month.

We’ll have our total analysis of the leading ten in the upcoming few times.