New car market declines in May, but remains set for a strong year

“New passenger car registrations declined in May but year to date the overall new car market remains strong. The General Election may have a short-term impact on consumer confidence, but franchised car retailers continue to see solid footfall through the dealerships and in the medium and long term consumer spending is expected to remain stable”, said Sue Robinson, Director of the NFDA, which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle dealers in the UK, commenting on the latest SMMT’s registration figures.

New passenger car registrations declined by -8.5% in May, with a total of 186,265 units. Year to date, the market is -0.6% lower than last year. Between January and May, more than 1.1 million cars were registered. Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) saw an impressive growth of 46.7%, a total of 8,258 AFVs were registered in May and 47,936 year to date.

Robinson continued, “The growing importance of low emission vehicles is reflected in the strong performance of AFVs in May. However, there must be continued and coordinated support from Government and industry to encourage the uptake of these vehicles, which have now reached a record market share, to ensure that the segment remains strong.

“In a period of change it will be interesting to see what the upcoming months have in store. Positively, the overall 2017 new car market seems set to stay at historically high levels.”