Automotive News – Early May 2026
The UK new car market grew by 24.0% to reach 149,247 registrations last month, according to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The increase reflects a rebound from an unusually weak April last year, when buyers pulled purchases forward to March to beat incoming vehicle tax increases, including the application of VED and the Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) on battery electric vehicles (BEVs). While April remains a traditionally low volume month, magnifying year-on-year variation, this was the best outturn since 2019’s 161,064 units.
Growth was recorded in all sectors, led by fleets, up 26.8% to 90,462 registrations. Private retail deliveries grew 20.2% to reach 56,116, while registrations by the smaller business sector rose 15.0% to 2,669.
Sourced from SMMT
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The new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market rose by 6.8% in April with 21,716vans, pickups and 4x4s joining UK roads, according to the latest figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). While the performance is compared against a weak April last year – a month impacted by tax changes – the return to growth after a disappointing March is welcome.
Performance was mixed, with overall growth driven by deliveries of large vans, up 28.5% to 15,561 units, representing 71.7% of all new LCVs registered. Medium-sized vans declined, meanwhile, by -20.0% to 3,476 units. In the smaller volume segments, registrations of 4x4s rose by 81.6% to 1,024 units, while small vans fell -14.4% to 489 units.
Sourced from SMMT
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Car manufacturer Nissan has announced it will stop using one of its UK production lines and will be cutting 900 jobs in Europe.
The company confirmed it would be merging two of the lines producing the Leaf, Juke and Qashqai models at its Sunderland plant, but said no jobs would be lost through the change.
However, the Japanese-owned car maker said it was in talks to cut about 10% of its European workforce, which included plans to close part of its warehouse in Barcelona and import cars to Nordic countries.
Sourced from BBC
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Japanese car giant Honda made its first annual loss in 70 years as its investments in the electric vehicle (EV) market failed to pay off.
Demand for EVs has not been as strong as the company forecast, with Honda reporting a total operating loss for the year ending March 2026 of ¥423bn ($2.68bn: £1.99bn.).
The firm said it was scrapping some of its EV production targets and would source parts from China, where prices are lower, to keep costs down.
Sourced from BBC News
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Jaguar Land Rover Automotive, the luxury car maker, said it achieved a significantly improved fourth quarter performance in a challenging year which included a catastrophic month-long global shutdown last September due to a cyber-attack incident, damaging US trade tariffs and the planned wind-down of certain models.
The group, which employs around 34,000 UK staff at plants including manufacturing sites in Halewood, Merseyside, and Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands, was reporting annual figures for the year to March 31, 2026.
Sourced from TheBusinessDesk
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The used car market is where most motorists buy their next vehicle so, while new figures published this week show activity was essentially flat in the first quarter, down just -0.2%, it is encouraging that EV transactions grew by nearly a third. Nearly one in 23 used cars changing hands in Q1 was battery electric – a record market share driven by long-term growth in the new car market where unprecedented manufacturer investment into products and subsidies is driving uptake.
Interest in used EVs may be helped by higher fuel prices amid the conflict in Iran but turning that interest into substantial market growth will require every fiscal and policy lever to be pulled. With the average age of the UK vehicle parc now at a new high of 9.7 years – up from eight in 2019 – fleet renewal is key. Given the current pressures in the new car market where fleet turnover begins, a full review of the UK’s EV transition to align policy with market realities should be an urgent priority.
Sourced from SMMT
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The UK’s used car market was flat during the first quarter of the year, down just -0.2% as 2,016,232 vehicles changed hands, according to the latest figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The performance ended a 12-quarter growth streak, reflecting a subdued March where transactions fell -2.3%. This is in comparison to an exceptionally high performance in March 2025, the only March exceeding 700,000 sales since 2017.
Transactions of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) grew by 32.0% to 86,943 units, as nearly one in 23 buyers (4.3%) made the switch, up from around one in 30 last year. This is the result of sustained investment by manufacturers into new models, enabling a massive choice of new zero emission vehicles in every segment – supported by substantial discounts and government incentives – which are filtering into the used market in ever greater numbers.
Sourced from SMMT
