New-car registrations within the UK rose for the eighth consecutive month in March, recording 18 % progress from a 12 months earlier, and in addition marked the very best month ever for full-electric automobile gross sales, the UK’s auto trade physique, the Society of Motor Producers and Merchants (SMMT), stated

New-car registrations jumped to 287,825 models as provide chain challenges continued to ease, making the primary quarter of 2023 the strongest three-month interval since 2019, the SMMT stated in a press release on Wednesday.

Gross sales of full-electric vehicles rose 19 % to a file month-to-month excessive of 46,626, representing a market share of 16.2 %, whereas gasoline-powered automobiles remained the most well-liked gas sort, rising 17 % to a 41.4 % share. Diesel gross sales fell 20 % for a 3.8 % market share.

“The perfect month ever for zero-emission automobiles is reflective of elevated shopper alternative and improved availability but when EV market ambitions – and regulation – are to be met, infrastructure funding should catch up,” SMMT CEO Mike Hawes stated within the assertion.

An EV, the Tesla Mannequin Y, was the very best promoting automobile within the UK final month, adopted by the Nissan Juke and the Nissan Qashqai.

The trade physique stated elevated funding in public charging infrastructure is vital for the success of the Zero Emission Car Mandate, which is because of be enforced in lower than 9 months.

John Wilmot, CEO of automobile leasing comparability web site LeaseLoco, stated in a word that it could be foolhardy to declare the automobile trade is out of the woods simply but, as present reported numbers have been nonetheless effectively beneath pre-COVID ranges.

By way of March, UK gross sales rose 18 % to 494,260.