UK New Car Sales Plunge 97 Percent to Lowest Level Since 1946

UK New Car Sales Plunge 97 Percent to Lowest Level Since 1946
Cars are displayed outside a Volvo showroom in west London on Oct. 4, 2013. (Luke MacGregor/File Photo/Reuters)
Reuters
5/5/2020
Updated:
5/5/2020
LONDON—British new car sales slumped by an annual 97 percent in April to the lowest level of any month since February 1946 as factories and dealerships shut due to the CCP virus outbreak.

The collapse in car sales puts more pressure on the UK economy, which is on course for an unprecedented quarterly contraction of at least 7 percent, a survey showed on May 5, as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus crimps activity.

Lockdown measures have been in place across Europe since mid-March to contain the pandemic, shutting many companies and limiting people’s movements, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson expected to detail this week how measures will be slowly eased.

Max Bruehmann (L) and Heiko Gruner employees of German car producer Volkswagen Sachsen, work with face masks in the assembly of the ID.3 in the vehicle plant in Zwickau, Germany, on April 23, 2020. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Max Bruehmann (L) and Heiko Gruner employees of German car producer Volkswagen Sachsen, work with face masks in the assembly of the ID.3 in the vehicle plant in Zwickau, Germany, on April 23, 2020. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Sales to businesses in April accounted for four in five of the 4,321 new car registrations, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which further downgraded its full-year forecast to 1.68 million sales, on track for a near 30-year low. In January it had forecast 2.25 million sales.

“Safely restarting this most critical sector and revitalizing what will, inevitably, be subdued demand will be key to unlocking manufacturing and accelerating the UK’s economic regeneration,” said SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes.

Demand in France and Italy fell by similar levels.

Britain’s car industry, the country’s biggest exporter of goods, faces losing output worth more than 8 billion pounds ($9.94 billion) due to the CCP virus outbreak, according to the SMMT.

An employee wearing a mask works on a door of a Yaris car at the Toyota car factory in Onnaing, northern France, on April 28, 2020. (Michel Spingler/AP Photo)
An employee wearing a mask works on a door of a Yaris car at the Toyota car factory in Onnaing, northern France, on April 28, 2020. (Michel Spingler/AP Photo)

Output in the industry has fallen 14 percent so far this year and sales have dropped 43 percent.

The top-selling car in Britain, normally dominated by the likes of Ford, Volkswagen, and Vauxhall, was the Tesla Model 3 in April, recording 658 purchases.

In February 1946, just a few months after the end of World War Two, just 4,044 new cars were sold in Britain, which was still undergoing rationing and trying to rebuild after wartime destruction, under its first majority Labour government.

High-value but low-volume luxury brands Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin began reopening their factories this week but larger-scale production isn’t due to resume until later in May when Jaguar Land Rover and Mini are set to resume some output.

Britain’s biggest car factory, operated by Nissan in Sunderland, will not be building cars until June.

By Costas Pitas.
Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.