There is not much to rejoice in the car market in the UK either, along the lines of the negative results obtained in Italy and Spain. In the country now very busy with post-Brexit woes, the decline in September was 34%, with 214,000 cars registered. This was the worst result in September in 23 years: it’s an incredible drop, and it may not be enough to explain it with the shortage of microchips that is gripping the sector.
September is usually a very positive month, actually. But this time, no factor helped. Even fuel rationing may have convinced savers not to invest in a new car; and even the price of some cars, particularly that of electric cars, did not meet the wishes of British citizens. UK manufacturers’ association, SMMT, said: “This was an extremely disappointing September and represents further evidence of the impact of COVID on the industry. Despite the strong demand for new vehicles during the summer, three months passed under a real emergency for electronic components“. The words of Mike Hawes, CEO of SMMT, are eloquent.
In the UK, very few brands had an increase in sales compared to September 2020. Toyota, the leader in the local market, lost 14%; Mercedes even lost 63%, slightly worse than Ford (62%). Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling car, according to Automotive News.