Car tax changes which scrapped upfront electric car costs have proved popular among businesses and may have helped push sales of the new models above traditional cars for the first time. SMMT data revealed the Tesla’s Model 3 topped the best seller list in April with a total of 658 models sold during the month.
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Tesla’s popular models have made the top 10 in previous occasions but last month was the first time the car has topped the standings.
Its success is also the first time a fully electric vehicle has been the most sold car of an individual month in a major win for the industry.
Jaguar’s I-Pace model was the second highest seller to ensure electric models completed a historic one-two.
Just 367 models were sold duer to the coronavirus pandemic closed dealerships but managed to just edge Vauxhall’s Corsa model which finished in third.
SMMT data revealed total new car sales were 97.3 percent down on the same month last year as the full impact of coronavirus was seen for the first time.
Just 871 private sales were made last month compared to almost 68,000 12 months earlier.
The data revealed that despite recording a sales dip, the electric car market remained stronger than petrol and diesel models where sales plummeted.
Sales for fully-electric models dropped by just 9.7 percent over the month while sales of traditional models fell by as much as 98 percent.
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This smaller decline ensured electric models made up almost one third of total car registrations last month in a record best for teh eco-friendly models.
WhatCar? Editorial Director Jim Holder said the achievement was a ”noteworthy landmark” for the car market.
He predicted a environmentally friendly scrappage scheme could soon be introduced as electric cars became a more dominant force on the road.
He said: “While the individual model sales are largely irrelevant, Tesla’s top slot for its ground-breaking Model 3 is noteworthy for thrusting an electric car into the top sales position in the UK for the first time.
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“While we wouldn’t expect that feat to be repeated for some years, it is a small but noteworthy landmark and is backed up by the electric Jaguar I-Pace in second place, with fully electric cars taking 31.8% of the whole market.”
“We expect talk to turn to incentives soon – both from the industry’s car makers themselves, but also potentially from the Government, perhaps with an environmentally-focused scrappage scheme.”
The new car tax changes saw benefit in kind rates on company cars slashed from 16 percent to zero.
The changes had proved popular among business workers, with eight out of ten admitting in a recent survey they would likely switch to a new car under the scheme.
Octopus Electric Vehicles CEO, Fiona Hpowarth, has previously claimed he had noticed further interest in these schemes since the changes were introduced.
Last month, she said the coonat had recorded a 62 percent increase in people interested in salary sacrifice schemes since the scheme was brought into use.
She said companies were seeing the schemes as a great “morale boost” for employees due to the massive savings.
Ms Howarh claimed they had seen a “heightened” interest in the Tesla Model 3 which could explain the sales seen in April.
She claimed customers were seeing the additional protection of being able to hand a car back if they were made redundant.
Motorists could save up to 40 percent on their total running costs by switching due to fuel savings and car tax breaks.
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