From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

h/t Ian Magness

Britain’s car market has shrunk permanently since the pandemic as the rise of home working and shift towards net zero hammers sales, industry chiefs have said.

Sales of new cars in the UK hit 1.9m in 2023, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said, a jump of 17.9pc compared with a year ago but still 17.7pc lower than before Covid hit.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said a combination of economic and social changes meant families were less likely to want multiple cars in their driveways today.

These included the rise of remote working, government policies aimed at making transport greener and the shrinking availability of lower-priced, entry level cars, as manufacturers focus on bigger, more profitable SUV models instead.

As a result, Mr Hawes said he did not expect new car sales to ever return to their pre-pandemic peak of 2.69 million per year, a record previously reached in 2016.

He said: “You’re seeing people changing their work patterns, more investment in public transport, and all of this is part of decarbonisation which we support.

“If people are working from home, does each household need as many cars as they may formerly have had? Things like that, there’s a number of different factors behind it.

“There’s still room for growth. But I can’t see us repeating that 2.6 million figure ever again.”

His comments came as the SMMT revealed the market share of electric cars went into reverse in 2023, as consumers baulked at high prices and a lack of charging infrastructure.

The lobby group is now urging Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, to jump-start demand by slashing VAT on electric car purchases for three years in his next Budget, due on March 6.

This would boost consumer spending power by £7.7bn and result in an extra 250,000 cars being bought by households, the SMMT said.

Electric vehicles’ (EVs) share of the overall new car market shrunk from 16.6pc to 16.5pc in 2023. This compares with the 17.2pc originally forecast by the SMMT.

The number of EVs sold rose by almost 50,000 to 315,000 in 2023 – but this also fell short of the SMMT’s prediction of 324,000 for the year.

Petrol car sales were flat at about 1m.

Mr Hawes blamed the EV malaise on stubbornly-high prices and warned that Rishi Sunak’s speech on net zero policies in September, which saw him delay a ban on new petrol car sales, was also not “particularly helpful”.

He added: “We need to be encouraging, promoting [EV uptake] as much as we can.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/05/car-market-permanently-smaller-wfh-net-zero-industry-chiefs/

I can’t do better than this comment from Ian:

What I find incredible here is that this man – Mike Hawes – seems to think that his support for the net zero “transition” overrides his responsibilities to support the members of the trade group he leads. Just what does he think he is employed to do? Doesn’t he realise that as the great majority of manufacturing and trading of vehicles revolves around ICE vehicles, he should be supporting the interests of those members that handle ICE business first and foremost and not prioritising the needs of pure-BEV makers such as the Chinese importers?

The bigger issue revealed here is that the market for car sales is not buoyant, which is not good news for the members of the trade body that he leads.

He should stick to the day job.