Unsurprisingly, a topsy-turvy year of new car sales finished in topsy-turvy style, with December’s results throwing up yet another month of unexpected results.
According to data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), it was a strong month for private new car sales, which were up by 20% on the same month last year – although it’s not a directly fair comparison as much of the UK was heading back into lockdown 12 months ago.
Fleet registrations, on the other hand, were a colossal 40% down on the same month last year, which is largely a reflection of the ongoing semiconductor shortage that is plaguing the car industry. As a result, the overall market was down 13% on last December, which in turn was well down on 2019 and the rest of the last decade.
In full-year results, the overall market was flat, just 1% up on Covid-ravaged 2020. Again, private sales were relatively stronger than fleet registrations, up 7% and down 4% respectively. And again, this was well down on pre-Covid years.
Plug-in cars take a third of new car market
Fully electric (25%) and plug-in hybrid (8%) cars took a third of the new car market in December, which bodes well (despite the usual SMMT moan-fest about government grants and charging points) for the industry hitting its 2030 zero-emissions target. It’s been another year of rapid growth for both part-time and full-time EVs, and the pace of adoption shows no signs of slowing.
This record-breaking month was helped in no small terms by a stunning sales month for the Tesla Model 3, which accounted for 9% of all new car registrations on its own. That in itself is enough to skew the numbers for the overall new car market.
Again, the familiar story of “worst-ever month for diesel’s market share” was repeated for approximately the 12th time in 12 months, while petrol’s share of the market is also starting to slide under the pressure of increasing EV demand. However, both petrol and diesel cars have tended to be more affected by supply shortages than EVs, which is effectively helping to drive the switch over to electric motoring.
Good month, bad month
Volkswagen topped the sales charts in December, while also ending the year as comfortably the best-selling brand in the UK. Audi was second, which also helped it secure second place in full-year sales. Once again, eternal market leader Ford had another terrible month to end up ninth, closing out 2021 in fourth place overall after an awful second half of the year.
Relative to the overall market, it was a good month for Alpine, Audi, Cupra, Dacia, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Maserati, Mazda, Mini, Polestar, Porsche, Renault, Smart, SsangYong, Subaru and Toyota, who all outperformed the overall new car market by at least 10%.
Meanwhile, the year didn’t finish too well for Abarth, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, SEAT, Suzuki and Volkswagen (despite VW taking top spot for the month), who all had sales results that were at least 10% below the overall market shift.
Corsa finally gets its coronation
It’s looked like an increasingly likely proposition since before summer, and a nailed-on certainty for the last few months, but it’s now official – the Vauxhall Corsa is the UK’s top-selling car of 2021. But while that was the headline story for the year in total, it wasn’t the big news of December.
The Tesla Model 3 was the star performer in December, topping the sales charts with more than double the registrations of the second-placed Mini hatch. As mentioned above, 9% of all new cars (or 1 in 11) registered in December were Tesla Model 3s.
After 12 years on top of the charts, the Ford Fiesta lost its crown in comprehensive fashion, ending the year out of the top ten altogether. We’ll explore the reasons for this in a separate article, but it’s a seismic shift for the UK new car market.
We’ll also have our usual analysis of the month’s top ten in coming days, along with a detailed look at the overall year of 2021 for new car registrations.
