Last year was tough for most car companies. What with Covid lockdown, uncertainty and general fear and gloom UK new car registrations fell 30% for the troubled twelve months.
A total of 1,631,064 new cars were registered in the UK in 2020, compared with 2,311,140 in 2019. In December, 132,682 cars were registered, down from 148,997 in December 2019.
The best selling car in December was once again the Model 3 with just shy of 6,000 registrations. Tesla sold 5,798 model 3, that’s over 1,000 more than the second placed VW Golf (4470) and 2,000 more than 3rd placed Ford Fiesta with 3,367 units. In sales values the differences are even larger. Each model 3 retails for say £45,000 compared to half that roughly for a Golf giving Tesla around £270 million and VW £110 million or roughly 3 times the income. Asstounding.
Tesla’s achievement is notable because this is only the second time that the brand has topped the SMMT’s table. The Model 3 was also the UK’s best-selling car in April 2020, following a boom in online orders before the car industry locked down with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reasons for Tesla’s success in December are more opaque but are likely due to the timing of its latest batch of deliveries, which arrived in November. This was too late for the Model 3 to keep its title of Europe’s best-selling electric car, which it lost to the ID 3 in October, but will have considerably bolstered its performance in the UK ratings.
As well as the Model 3, demand for all EVs surged in 2020. Hybrids and electric cars enjoyed their best year yet, together accounting for more than one in 10 registrations, up from around one in 30 in 2019.
Demand for EVs grew by 185.9% in 2020, with 108,205 such cars finding buyers. Plug-in hybrids also gained popularity, with registrations rising 91.2% to 66,877.
We take delivery of a new model 3 in March. Yes a red long range model 3 will join the fleet next week.