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April saw Chinese carmaker BYD begin to build its presence in the UK with registrations increasing ten-fold year on year to 333 units,
Another Chinese brand, GWM Ora, which has been recruiting dealerships also saw significant growth – from a low base – with registrations increasing seven-fold to 88 cars.
Other brands to show growth in the month included smart (+675% to 248 units), Jeep (+200% to 346 units) Jaguar (+92% to 1,329 units) and SEAT (+84% to 3,433 units). Renault was up 76.6% to 4,123 units for the month.
At the other end of the table there were significant falls with Polestar down -60.3% to 470 units, Vauxhall saw a -44.1% decline to 4,386 units, Mini was adrift -35.2% to 2,307 units, Honda -34% to 1,530 and Mazda-31.3% to 1,537 units.
The overall market was up 1% for the month, driven by fleet sales which soared 18.5% to reach 81,207 units.
Private buyer uptake fell by -17.7% to 50,458 units, while business registrations declined by -16.1%, to 2,609, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders. April is a relatively small month for sales, coming after the March plate change.