New car sales in first half of 2024: winners and losers

Registrations of Ford cars plummeted 42.4% in June giving it a market share of 5.6%, putting it behind Volkswagen, BMW, Audi and Kia. In the first half of 2024 its registrations fell 22% to 56,735 units. Sales will have been impacted by the termination of Fiesta production in July 2023. Fiesta sold 25,000 in 2022 when there were still supply restrictions.  S-Max and Galaxy were also still in production until April.

Earlier this year Ford said it could cut back on sales of petrol cars in order to meet ZEV Mandate regulations, requiring 20% of cars in 2024 to be full blown BEVs. Other players to experience double-digit decline included Polestar, down 60% and Porsche down 26.5%.

At the other end of the spectrum Chinese brand BYD saw sales soar to 2,904 units from a low base, GWM Ora was up 202% to 895 units, Jeep 135% to 3,756 units and Renault 65.5% to 28,596 units.

In the first half of 2024, 1,006,763 new cars have been registered, up 6% on the previous year but still down -20.7% on 2019.

June’s market growth was driven primarily by the fleet sector, where uptake rose by 14.2%, while private retail demand fell for the ninth consecutive month, down -15.3%. Retail buyers accounted for fewer than four in 10 new cars registered (37.7%).

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “The year’s midpoint sees the new car market in its best state since 2021 – but this belies the bigger challenge ahead. The private consumer market continues to shrink against a difficult economic backdrop.”