The new car market in the UK went off a cliff in April, plummeting 97.3%. Only 4,321 new cars were registered in April. In this highly unusual situation, 31.8% of sales were battery-electric vehicles.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders indicated that 658 Model 3s were sold in April, accounting for around 15% of all new car sales. Its strong performance is due to the delivery of previous online orders, including fleet orders, while most dealerships were closed.
The Tesla Model 3 accounts for 0.9% sales in the UK so far this year.
The Jaguar I-Pace was the second-highest seller in April, with 367 units sold. As with Tesla sales, fleet orders were less affected by the pandemic. Jaguar is supplying 700 I-Paces to the National Health Service for use by healthcare workers.
EVs outsold diesel vehicles, with 1,374 and 1,079 registrations, respectively.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said:
With the UK’s showrooms closed for the whole of April, the market’s worst performance in living memory is hardly surprising. These figures, however, still make for exceptionally grim reading, not least for the hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on the sector.
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