By Ian Walker

The number of new cars registered in the U.K. suffered its biggest March fall since the late '90s as showrooms closed due to the spreading coronavirus pandemic and government restrictions, an industry body said Monday.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has cut its forecasts for the year by 23% to 1.73 million car sales because of the continued uncertainty. This compares with 2.31 million car registrations in 2019 and a previous forecast of 2.25 million provided in January.

A total of 254,684 cars were driven off the forecourts in March compared with 458,054 for the same month a year ago, the SMMT said. March is usually a busy month for the industry due to the new registration plate change.

For the first three months of the year, 483,557 cars were registered compared with 701,036 for the same period in 2019.

"Despite this being the lowest March since we moved to the biannual plate change system, it could have been worse had the significant advanced orders placed for the new 20 plate not been delivered in the early part of the month," SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said.

The U.K.'s two best-selling cars in March were the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Fiesta, according to the SMMT.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 06, 2020 06:42 ET (10:42 GMT)