UK's new car market experiences best year since pandemic

EV sales have increased again in 2023 for a total of 314,687 registered across the year.

Outside of a car dealership - Photo Credit: Erik Mclean via Unsplash

During 2023, a total of 1.903 million new cars have been registered in the UK according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This makes 2023 the best year for the new car market since the pandemic. Fleet vehicles have been the driving force for the growth across last year.

While this has been the best year since 2019 for new car sales, there is emphasis on the sales of new electric vehicles for private customer as the Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate comes into force.

Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of the SMMT said "Government has challenged the UK automotive sector with the world's boldest transition timeline and is investing to ensure we are a major maker of electric vehicles.

"It now must help all drivers into this future, with consumer incentives that will make the UK the leading European market for zero emission vehicles."

Fleet sales still driving EV growth

According to the SMMT, currently 1 in 11 private buyers are choosing to purchase battery electric vehicles (BEV's), compared to 1 in 6 being purchased for fleet vehicles.

As it stands, there are grants for those looking to purchase electric vans. The plug-in van grant will discount small vans up to £2,500 and large vans up to £5,000. For those that are living in flats, you can receive £350 towards the installation on a home charger for your EV.

If you are looking to purchase an EV privately there are no current grants since the end of the Plug-in Car Grant in June 2022.

Catherine King a Content Creator at Auto Trader said "I think we will see more incentives for EV's this year because manufacturers will have to push electric vehicles.

"It is clearly important to keep people interested in electric cars."

The SMMT are calling for the government to half VAT for three years on new BEV's. This will help provide an extra £7.7 billion of BEV buying power for consumers by the end of 2026, according to the SMMT.

Hybrid vehicles experienced rapid growth

During 2023, nearly all variants of hybrid vehicles have seen an increase in registrations as well. Plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) have seen a 39.3 percent increase in registrations year-to-date when compared to 2022. With hybrid vehicles experiencing 27.1 percent growth year-to-date and mild-hybrid petrol vehicles experiencing 32.5 percent growth over the same period. Only mild-hybrid diesels dropped 1.9 percent over the same time.

Ms King explained "Lots of new vehicles are coming into the market electrified, maybe not fully, but to some extent.

"There's more of them available, so you would expect consumers will be buying more of them."

Looking at the market for 2024, Ms King said "With more new EV models coming this year, there are some exciting things to come."