New car registrations in the UK made a modest gain of 2% year on year in April, according to figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). 189,505 cars were registered in the month – the most in April since 2003, when 194,312 new vehicles found homes.
As in March, the market growth in April was led by the fleet and business sectors, where respective increases of 6.1% and 2.8% counterbalanced a 2.5% fall in private registrations.
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Demand for both petrol and diesel models remained high. Registrations of petrol cars increased 3.4% in April, while diesel saw a slight 0.6% decline. Following the trend set in the first three months of the year, uptake of alternative fuel vehicles jumped by more than a quarter as buyers looked to reduce emissions and running costs.
April's performance puts registrations for 2016 to date 4.4% up year on year. It followed a bumper March in which over 518,000 cars were registered – the second-biggest month on record. Demand for cars has been running at a high level, after 43 consecutive months of growth in the market led to an all-time high of 2.63m car registrations in 2015.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: "After such a strong March, April's steadier performance was to be anticipated, and is in line with our expectations for the year. Consumer confidence remains high as buyers continue to capitalise on attractive finance deals, although this could be affected by political and economic uncertainty in the coming months."
