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According to the latest statistics, sales of new cars have fallen for the third year in a row.
The 2.4% decline from 2018’s figures to 2019 represent a seven-year low, however experts are quick to point out that the total number of sales is still ahead of the ten-year average.
Interestingly, when breaking it down, sales of specialist sports cars rocketed by more than 19%, with the SUV sector also experiencing growth.
According to Motoring Research:
New car registrations fell for the third year running in 2019, with the market declining 2.4 percent to a seven-year low.
Official figures show 2.3 million cars were sold last year, compared to 2016’s all-time high of 2.69 million.
However, adds the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the 2019 total is still ahead of the UK’s 10-year average.
Every new car sector apart from two experienced sales declines. The exceptions were the dual purpose (SUV) sector, up 12 percent, and the specialist sports sector, up an eye-catching 19.2 percent.
The latter is due to the long-awaited arrival of the Tesla Model 3, which the SMMT classifies as a specialist sports vehicle.
The best-selling car types in the UK were superminis and family cars, which took 57 percent of new car sales – but both were down, by 6 percent and 4 percent respectively.
Alternative fuel vehicles – that’s electric cars and hybrids – grew 20.6 percent, to take an overall market share of 7.4 percent. Hybrids made up 4.6 percent of that total, with electric cars on 1.6 percent.
Battery electric vehicles, adds the SMMT, overtook plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) for the first time. It blames this on the government’s controversial decision to pull PHEVs from the Plug-in Car Grant.
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