New car sales in the UK were down by around 97 percent for the month of April, hitting the lowest level of any month since February of 1946.
Back then, a few months after the end of World War II, only 4,044 new cars were sold in Britain, which was still undergoing rationing and trying to rebuild its infrastructure following the destruction.
In comparison, last month’s figure stood at about 4,000 cars, with most new car sales being business fleet purchases, according to preliminary data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
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The SMMT went on to further downgrade its full-year forecast to 1.68 million registrations compared to last year’s total of 2.31 million cars, as reported by Autonews Europe.
Of course, the main culprit for this slump has been the coronavirus outbreak, which forced governments around the world to impose lockdown measures since mid-March in order to contain the pandemic. In turn, this lead to the closure of many businesses and limited people’s movements, so buyers haven’t been able to visit showrooms.
In March, sales across all of Europe were down 52 percent as new car registrations dropped to just 853,077 units. The UK alone saw a 44 percent drop, while registrations in Germany, Spain and France were down 38 percent, 69 percent and 72 percent respectively.
More recently though, some countries have begun relaxing distancing guidelines, and retailers have begun opening their doors around the world. In the UK, the priority has been to reopen production facilities, such as the JLR’s manufacturing plant in Solihull.
