New car registrations rise, ‘discounting shores up EVs’

New car registrations edged up by 1% year-on-year last month — driven by growth in the fleet market, according to latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The SMMT  said registrations were 275,239 in the key ‘74’ plate change month of September.

In what is traditionally a bumper month for new car registrations, second only to March, the performance was the best since 2020, but still down nearly 20% on pre-Covid September 2019, the SMMT said.

Fleet purchases were up nearly 4% to 149,095 units, representing 54.2% of the overall market.

Meanwhile, private consumer demand fell by -1.8% to 120,272 units, accounting for 43.7% of registrations, while the smaller business sector saw volumes fall -8.4% to 5,872 units.

Hybrids

The uptake of plug-in hybrids grew faster than any other fuel type in the month, up 32.1% to take an 8.9% share of the market. Hybrid electric vehicle registrations rose 2.6%, boosting market share to 14.2%, while petrol and diesel registrations declined by -9.3% and -7.1% respectively, although together they were still the choice of 56.4% of buyers in September, the SMMT said.

Demand for the latest battery electric vehicles (BEV) hit a new record volume for any month in September, up 24.4% to 56,387 units, achieving a 20.5% share of the overall market, up from 16.6% a year ago.

Heavy EV discounting shored up demand, but the SMMT said this was not enough to shift market share significantly, which edged up from 17.2% in the first eight months, to 17.8% from January- September. It is expected to reach 18.5% by the end of the year.

Fleets drove much of this growth, with deliveries rising 36.8% to account for nearly 76% of BEV registrations.

LCV growth

Britain’s new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market grew for the second month running in September, up 8.3% to record the best performance for the month in four years.

Some 48,455 new vans, 4x4s and pickups were registered as more businesses invested in fleet renewal than any month this year except March, encouraged by the introduction of the new ‘74’ numberplate, the SMMT said.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said the record EV performance was good news, “but look under the bonnet and there are serious concerns as the market is not growing quickly enough to meet mandated targets.

“Despite manufacturers spending billions on both product and market support — support that the industry cannot sustain indefinitely — market weakness is putting environmental ambitions at risk and jeopardising future investment.”

Hawes said the government’s upcoming budget should include “bold measures on consumer support and infrastructure to get the transition back on track”.