LONDON — UK new-car gross sales rose by 11.5 p.c in March, often one of many two prime promoting months of the yr.

Registrations had been 283,964 after slumping in February, data from the Society of Motor Producers and Merchants (SMMT) confirmed on Tuesday.

March registrations had been nonetheless about 37 p.c under the common for the month from 2010-2019.

March is one among two annual events when the license plate collection adjustments, spurring demand.

Many sellers have been utilizing “click on and acquire” and supply providers to proceed to function as a result of showrooms stay closed to the general public as a part of measures to scale back the unfold of the coronavirus.

In England, showrooms are attributable to reopen from April 12, alongside different nonessential stores.

“Click on and acquire supplied a lifeline for the sector – made potential by producers and their networks efficiently investing in digital channels,” the affiliation stated. “Click on and acquire doesn’t, nonetheless, supply the patron the identical expertise and pleasure as a showroom atmosphere,” it added.

For the sector to return to its pre-pandemic ranges, round 8,300 new automobiles will should be registered each single buying and selling day for the remainder of the yr, the SMMT stated. By comparability, the business has averaged round 7,400 a day in the course of the previous decade and present ranges are nearer to five,600 a day.

EV gross sales rise

The SMMT stated the shift to new applied sciences is continuous, with plug-in automobile demand reaching its highest ever quantity.

Battery-electric automobiles and plug-in hybrid automobiles took a mixed market share of 13.9 p.c in March, up from 7.3 p.c final yr.

Battery-electric automobile gross sales elevated by 88 p.c to 22,003 models, whereas gross sales of plug-in hybrids rose by 152 p.c to 17,330. Full hybrid registrations rose 42 p.c to 21,599.

Reuters contributed to this report