May 2020, the second month of the coronavirus lockdown in the UK, was the worst May since 1952. Only 20,247 new cars were registered (89% less than in 2019).
On the positive side, the plug-in electric car sales decreased by "only" 25.4% year-over-year to 3,249, thanks to an outstanding 21.5% growth of all-electric cars (the PHEVs were down by 65.1%). The overall plug-in market share was 16%.
The main explanation behind strong BEV sales is that there were a lot of pre-orders of the latest models, which were delivered to customers.
See also:
Plug-in Electric Car Registrations in the UK – May 2020
- BEVs: 2,424 (up 21.5% year-over-year) at market share of 12%
- PHEVs: 825 (down 65.1% year-over-year) at market share of 4%
- Total: 3,249 (down 24.4% year-over-year) at market share of 16%
Sales YTD:
- BEVs: 22,054
- PHEVs: 14,58
- Total: 36,636 (up 64% year-over-year) at market share of 7.2%
More details, including also other types:
Top models
The list of the top 10 passenger cars in May, just like in April, is led by the Tesla Model 3 (852)! It's a great score, although we are aware that those are cars shipped from California before the pandemic.
We are sure that some other plug-ins also might be relatively high, but there is no way to identify them solely by the name (like the Vauxhall Corsa-e - part of Corsa).
Source: SMMT
