UK sales in 2021 were 29% below pre-pandemic level

LONDON -- New-car registrations in Britain last year grew slightly from 2020 but were still far below pre-pandemic levels, reflecting a shortage of semiconductors as well as the direct impact of the pandemic.

Some 1.65 million new cars were registered in Britain in 2021, just 1 percent more than in 2020 but 29 percent fewer than in 2019, according to figures from the SMMT published on Thursday.

Sales in December were 108,596, 18 percent below those of the same month last year.

Tesla's Model 3 was Britain's second best-selling new car in 2021, with 34,783 units sold. The Vauxall Corsa was the year's topseller. BMW's Mini was No. 3.

"It's been another desperately disappointing year for the car industry as COVID continues to cast a pall over any recovery. Manufacturers continue to battle myriad challenges ... above all, the global semiconductor shortage which is decimating supply," SMMT CEO Mike Hawes said.

The trade body estimates registrations will climb 19 percent to 1.96 million in 2022 as the semiconductor shortage eases and demand for battery-powered vehicles grows. The figure would still be well below the 2.3 million sold in 2019.

The group said it will update that forecast -- formulated in October shortly before the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron coronavirus variant -- again later this month.

"How good that growth is depends on the supply-chain issues being resolved," Hawes told reporters during a briefing. "We know that the demand is there, the technology is there, the new models are there."

Globally the car industry has been one of the hardest hit by supply-chain difficulties, and Germany, Europe's biggest market for new cars, reported a 10 percent fall in sales for last year.

The SMMT said the main bright spot was rapid growth in sales of electric vehicles. Some 190,000 battery electric vehicles were registered last year, more than in the previous five years combined. Alongside 115,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles, these accounted for 18.5 percent of new car registrations in 2021

Britain's government has said it will ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars from 2030, although some hybrid vehicles will be on sale until 2035.

Bloomberg contributed to this report