Vertu Motors has reported a 7% growth in year-on-year new car sales across March, April and May, compared to the wider market’s gain of 5.6%.

Used car volumes decreased by 3.8% in the same period, which Vertu attributed to reduced supply of used vehicles.

However, margins on used vehicles increased from 7.3% to 7.5%.

Motability sales were weak across the group’s network, with a year-on-year decrease of 23.2% across March, April and May, compared to a UK-wide decline of 18.5%.

Vertu put this down to a large number of vehicle renewals in the previous year, due to post-Covid disruptions.

Despite the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reporting a decrease in year-on-year van sales, Vertu saw a 3% volume increase in commercial and fleet sales throughout the three-month period, compared to the same period in 2024.

Robert Forrester (pictured), CEO of Vertu Motors, said: “Since the beginning of the financial year, a period which includes the important trading month of March, the Group has traded well in a challenging macro-economic environment.

“New retail volumes are up materially with the Group benefiting from market share gains, and our high margin aftersales business continues its out-performance.

“This encouraging start to the year is balanced by ongoing headwinds of a challenging consumer and business environment and the Government’s ZEV mandate promoting accelerated electric car adoption.”

High margin service revenues were also up by 4.1% year-on-year, and Vertu is set for higher pre-tax profits than the same time last year.