UK Car Sales Continue To Fall, EV Share Rises: SMMT

RTTNews | 11h 12min ago

(RTTNews) - The UK car market contracted for the fourth straight month in January due to weak consumer confidence and tough economic conditions, but the market share of electric vehicles increased, data from the Society of Motor manufacturers and Traders or SMMT, showed on Wednesday.

Car registrations decreased 2.5 percent on a yearly basis to 139,345 units in January. The volume of battery electric vehicle sales surged 41.6 percent to claim a 21.3 percent market share.

However, the SMMT said the BEV market share still remained short of the 22 percent target set by government for last year, and was even further behind the 28 percent requirement for 2025.

Both hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids registered volume growth and saw their market shares rise to 13.2 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively.

Reflecting the ongoing downward trend, petrol car registrations slid 15.3 percent and the market share of petrol cars fell to 50.3 percent. Diesel car sales were down 7.7 percent to claim a share of 62 percent.

"January's figures show EV demand is growing - but not fast enough to deliver on current ambitions," SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said. "Affordability remains a major barrier to uptake, hence the need for compelling measures to boost demand, and not just from manufacturers," added Hawes.

The auto industry called for halting EV tax hikes as the market outlook anticipates only 23.7 percent market share for BEV this year. This is well below the mandated 28 percent target for this year.

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