- March 2024 new car registrations all about fleet
- Total car registrations up +10.4%
- Good performance from Stellantis, but Tesla has a stinker
NATIONAL newspaper headlines may have concentrated on the decline in EV market share for the March registrations, however, a deeper dive into the registration figures reveals the picture for electric cars is nowhere near as dire as some make out.
While the March new car registration figures do show that EV share dropped to 15.2% from 16.2% a year ago, unit registrations were up 3.8% for the month. And year-to-date, EV registrations grew ahead of the total market percentage; EVs up 10.6% against the total rise of 10.4%.
Add in PHEV numbers and the picture is even more positive for electrification and the ZEV Mandate target. In quarter one, the combined PHEV and EV share was 23.3% against Q1 2023’s 21.9%. On its own, PHEV’s share was 7.8% for the first three months of 2024 and up 34% on last year.
Overall market is about fleet
Looking at the wider picture, it’s clear car makers are pushing new cars into the ‘catch-all’ fleet and business sectors as private registrations decline, despite a host of hefty discounts and finance offers.
The all-important March plate change month was up overall by 10.4%. However, private sales were down 7.7% and accounted for just 40% of the market. Fleet was up nearly 30% and combined with the business sector took close to 60% of the new car market for the month.
Year-to date the picture is even more extreme. Over Q1, fleet and business registrations accounted for 62% of the market. A year ago this share was 54%.
Source: SMMT
Car dealers that Broker News spoke to during the month reflected these ultimate numbers reporting that new car sales were very difficult. This was because those customers returning to the market with a three-year-old trade-in were finding that not only have used car values dropped more than expected (around 10% in the past year) but new car prices and monthly payments were significantly higher for the same car.
Anecdotally, many private buyers are choosing to switch into a newer used car of the same size, rather than take a smaller new car at the same monthly outgoing.
Winning brands - Stellantis ahead
As is frequently the case with the new March registration plate, a few surprises were delivered in terms of car manufacturer success and failure.
Stellantis has seen a swing in fortunes now that agency plans have been shelved and new boss Maria-Grazia Davino has taken over. Vauxhall made the top 5 for March’s largest increases in the number of units registered at fourth place, and Peugeot was the sixth largest increase for the month. Jeep also did well while Citroen, DS and Alfa Romeo saw only small declines.
BMW saw the biggest unit increase in March with Renault second and Nissan third. Mercedes, which is now well over a year into agency and offering marketing some significant discounts, completed the top 5 improvers.
Top 5 growth brands March 2024 (unit increase)
1 BMW
2 Renault
3 Nissan
4 Vauxhall
5 Mercedes-Benz
+5,602
+5,010
+3,565
+3,462
+3,351
Losing brands - and that includes Tesla, MINI and Kia
One reason the March EV numbers weren’t as strong as expected was a poor performance from Tesla. The all-EV brand was down nearly 3,500 units on March last year which has taken its overall performance for Q1 down nearly 12%. Tesla’s drop was the largest of any brand.
Other surprises saw MINI suffer a more than 1,000 unit fall despite sister brand BMW’s record result. MINI’s slow March is likely to be countered by a strong year as new products are just starting to arrive.
Kia, one of the strongest brands in recent years, had a slow month, as did similarly large brands Toyota and Ford.
Top 5 losing brands March 2024 (unit decrease)
5 MINI
4 Kia
3 Toyota
2 Ford
1 Tesla
-1,019
-1,225
-2,367
-3,389
-3,498
Read our new car market analysis of February 2024 registrations
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Tristan Young is an award winning journalist with more than 25 years’ experience reporting on the automotive industry focussing predominantly on fleet and retail. As a self-confessed petrol-head, Tristan has a weakness for car classifieds. When he’s not writing about the automotive industry, he can usually be found outdoors with a small pack of border collies.
