As demand outstrips supply, Scottish new car sales have declined remarkably. Car dealers are struggling to deliver the new car on time to the customers. Because they are not getting a sufficient number of vehicles from manufacturers.

Credit: scotsman

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT), only 21,069 new cars were registered in March 2022. Experts think that Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic are the main reasons for the recent shortage of vehicles. The ongoing global shortage of computer chips is also responsible for this situation. Other countries like the UK are also experiencing declining sales in the vehicle market. The UK as a whole faced a 14.3% year-on-year drop which was the lowest sale in the last 24 years.

Interestingly, sales of pure electric vehicles are growing remarkably. The sales climbed from 1,629 in March 2021 to 2,296 in March 2022. On the contrary, diesel-run vehicles saw a dramatic drop in sales.

Credit: scotsman

Sales manager at Henrys Honda in Glasgow, Graeme Telfer said “The dealership was not getting its cars from manufacturers as quickly as it would want. We used to tell a customer they would have to wait seven to 14 days to get a car. Now we could be looking at between three to six months or even nine months. It can be very challenging because customers want their cars yesterday.”

Credit: agcc

Chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, Sandy Burgess said,  “There have been various issues that have all gathered together – we have gone from Brexit obviously through the pandemic.” He also added, “Then we had the computer chip situation and now we have the unfortunate situation in Ukraine, which is affecting some manufacturers more than others.”