The new car market is enjoying a buoyant May, with Auto Trader reporting a 3% month-on-month increase in visits to its new car platform and a 14% rise year-on-year.

Retailers are responding by ramping up their presence, with 14% more new cars advertised on the platform compared to the same period last year.

Renault has claimed a double victory on Auto Trader’s electric vehicle leaderboard, driven by the long-awaited arrival of the Renault 5 E-Tech electric.

The retro-inspired hatchback garnered a 9.1% share of all new EV enquiries in May, comfortably ahead of the Skoda Elroq (4.7%) and Volkswagen ID.3 (4.2%).

The French car maker also took the top spot as the most searched new EV brand, achieving a 9.9% share of enquiries, ahead of BMW (7.6%) and Volkswagen (7.5%).

Across all fuel types, German marques continue to dominate. BMW retained the title of most in-demand new car brand for a second consecutive month with a 12.3% share of enquiries. Land Rover (10.4%) and Volkswagen (9.8%) followed closely.

However, Chinese manufacturers are rapidly climbing the ranks. The Jaecoo 7 surged from seventh to third place among all models, with a 2.8% share of enquiries, while BYD’s Seal U moved up to sixth place (1.8%).

“The momentum behind Chinese brands is increasingly evident,” said Bex Kennett, new car performance director at Auto Trader. “Models like the Jaecoo 7 and BYD Seal U are turning heads, showing that buyers are ready to explore new options - especially if they’re competitively priced and well equipped.”

Despite market dynamism, average new car discounts remained stable. Across all fuel types, discounts ticked up slightly to 8.8%, while EV discounts softened marginally from 10.2% to 10.1% following changes to the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

“It’s been an encouraging month so far,” added Kennett. “With demand on the rise and fresh electric models attracting strong interest, we expect this online engagement to convert into sales. For retailers, the key will be aligning their stock with the most in-demand models to capture this growing consumer appetite.”