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The UK car industry has downgraded its forecast for the number of cars it expects to sell this year by 9%.
Around 1.72 million new cars will be registered in 2022, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders. This is down from the forecast of 1.89 million issued in January.
The reduction comes as the number of new cars registered in April fell by 16% year-on-year.
Some 119,167 new cars were registered last month, down from 141,583 in April 2021. This is despite lockdown restrictions last year that meant showrooms were closed for the first 11 days of April.
SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said: ‘The worldwide semiconductor shortage continues to drag down the market, with global geopolitical issues threatening to undermine both supply and demand in the coming months.’
Jim Holder, editorial director of magazine and website What Car?, said the latest monthly figures show the automotive industry is ‘in an increasingly precarious position’.
It has invested billions of pounds in developing new vehicles including a raft of electrified models but output is being ‘strangled by world events’ such as a semiconductor shortage and the war in Ukraine, he explained.
He went on: ‘While profitability is high, the industry cannot expect to thrive in such a challenged market indefinitely and likewise consumers cannot carry the burden of paying rising prices unchecked, especially as the cost of living elsewhere puts a focus on non-essential spending.’
Registrations of pure electric cars bucked the overall trend last month, with a 41% year-on-year increase.
The SMMT anticipates that plug-in cars such as pure electrics and plug-in hybrids will account for more than a quarter of the new car market by the end of 2022.
Alex Buttle, co-founder of used car marketplace Motorway.co.uk, said: ‘While new car sales overall continue to disappoint, once again it's electric vehicles that are providing the silver lining to the dark cloud that is hanging over the new car industry.’
By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent
source: PA
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