UK Automobile Industry Body Slashes New Car Sales Outlook

An automobile industry body in the United Kingdom has slashed its full-year outlook for new car registrations in the United Kingdom by 2.2%, as supply chain problems, a cost-of-living crisis, and high inflation threaten to limit consumer spending. New car registrations for 2022 are on track to see its worst year in 40 years, said by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

For 2022, the SMMT expects 1,566 million new car registrations, which were down by 5 percent from a year ago, when new car registrations were still 28.7 percent below pre-pandemic levels. Automobile market of the United Kingdom, which is still reeling from the impact of global chip shortages, has been hit by the cost-of-living crisis that has seen consumers drop large purchases.

For October 2022, new car registrations increased by 26.4% from a year ago, they were hit because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shortages in supply, said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.

However, the automobile industry body is expecting a market recovery to continue through 2023, and registrations for 2023 to be around 1.8 million units. According to the SMMT, a long-term fiscal commitment to zero emission motoring would do more to stimulate demand and investment.