UK Used Car for Sale Market Down 15% in 2020 as Coronavirus Bites

Car Industry and used car for sale market wants showrooms to re-open ASAP.
UK Used Hybrid Car market slipped by fifteen percent in 2020, as the corona virus pandemic dented demand for vehicles. That is according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).A leading industry body that says showrooms should be allowed to open as soon as current restrictions are eased.

After relatively strong start to 2020, SMMT’s figures reveal an unsurprising slump in demand as the corona virus pandemic swept across Europe.That contributed to the 14.9% drop in used Hybrid car transactions, they took sector to its worst performance in almost a decade.

6.75 million used hybrid car transactions recorded in 2020, Year saw almost 1.2 million fewer vehicles change hands than in 2019. It is the lowest number since 2012,the SMMT says it is a surefire sign dealers must re-open “as soon as possible” to help stimulate the economy, protect jobs.

The figures also show a marked increase in sales of electric and hybrid car, with so-called ‘alternatively fuelled’ cars sales up 5.2 per. It may only brings total number of transactions to 144,225 – or 2.10% of the total – but it is a welcome area of growth in market.

During isolation, the electric vehicle (EV) market grew the most, rising almost 30 percent to more than 19,000 units, but that’s still a mere 0.3 percent of all used car sales. Market for plug-in hybrid cars, fell very slightly, down by 5%, but that slump was tiny compared with the 15.5% drop in diesel car sales and the 15.2% reduction in petrol car sales.