April new car registrations up 3,177%

New car registrations were up an unprecedented 3,176.6 per cent compared with the same month last year when lockdown was at its strictest, closing dealers and seeing just 4,321 new cars changing hands.

April 2021 was a very different month, and while the 141,483 new models registered in the first month of the second quarter this year represented a 32-fold increase, figures are still 12.9 per cent below the 10-year average for April 2021, despite dealers being able to sell cars both in person and via click-and-collect.

Such a curious month meant anomalies abound in the SMMT’s figures. Diesel cars enjoyed a rare boom, with registrations up 1,198.6 per cent, and mild-hybrid diesels up over 12,000 per cent. Sales of petrol cars rose 4,482.9 per cent, and mild-hybrid petrols were almost 17,000 per cent (or 170 times) more popular.

Pure-electric cars enjoyed modest success by comparison, rising from 1,374 registrations in April 2020 (when Tesla’s online sales platform saw the Model 3 become the month’s best-selling car), to 9,152 registrations last month, for a 566.1 per cent increase. Plug-in hybrid cars rose just over 10,000 per cent in popularity, while conventional hybrids rose 24,468.8 per cent, up from just 48 registrations in April 2020, to 11,793 last month. 

Sales to private buyers rose 7,010.8 per cent year-on-year, although the 61,935 figure was still 14.5 per cent lower than the 10-year average. Fleet registrations were up 2,398.9 per cent, while registrations for the business sector grew 570.5 per cent.

Despite the vast rebound on 2020, the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show the figure was still less than the 2010-2019 April average of 162,537 registrations. That deficit could be partly down, however, to the fact dealerships weren’t allowed to reopen fully until 12 April, leaving the first third of the month reliant on click-and-collect and delivery sales.

The SMMT is now forecasting that 1.86 million new cars will be registered in 2021 - up 13.9 per cent on 2020. This would still be 20.2 per cent down on the 2010-2019 average of 2.33 million, however. Electric vehicles are expected to account for 8.9 per cent of new cars registered, while plug-in hybrids could take a 6.3 per cent market share.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said a full recovery is “still some way off”, but added that the reopening of showrooms means the market can “rebuild”.

He added: “Market confidence is improving and we now expect to finish the year in a slightly better position than anticipated in February, largely thanks to the more upbeat business and consumer confidence created by the successful vaccine rollout.”

Find out the best cars coming out in 2021 here...