Carmakers have sold more than a million cars in the UK in the first half of the year for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic as the sector gradually recovers from years of turmoil.
Sales in the first six months of 2024 rose by 6% to just over 1m, compared with 949,000 in the same period last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the UK industry’s lobby group.
The share of electric cars hit 19% in June, its highest this year.
The SMMT suggested that the industry would sell about 2m cars over the year, also for the first time since 2019. Its chief executive, Mike Hawes, said that annual total would be “a bit below par” but that the recovery was a relief for the industry after years of struggles.
However, the growth was “almost entirely business and fleet sales” rather than private buyers, Hawes told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Given that most people buy with some kind of finance, with inflation high and interest rates high, it has made the cost of purchase more expensive.”
Sales to private buyers fell for the ninth…
