The UK new car market recorded its second successive year of growth in 2024, new figures released yesterday show.
According to the latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), 1,952,778 new cars reached the road in 2024 – a rise of 2.6% on 2023.
However, fleets accounted for the entirety of the growth witnessed last year, up 11.8% to 1,163,855 units, a record six in 10 (59.6%) new car registrations. Conversely, private new registrations fell by 8.7% to 746,276 units – less than in 2020 when social distancing restrictions during the pandemic shut down the market for three months.
Image credit: SMMT.
Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales, while encouraging, fell short of the government’s mandated target for 2024, despite another strong performance in December. BEV registrations accounted for 31.0% of the market, the highest since December 2022’s record 32.9%. As a result, BEVs made up 19.6% of the market (381,970 units) in 2024, up by more than a fifth (67,283 units) from last year, but short of the 22% mandate.
The SMMT says industry has pulled every lever to try and achieve the government target, with manufacturer discounting totalling more than £4.5bn in 2024, an amount that is not sustainable in the long term. Billions of pounds of investment in new technologies and products over the past decade have delivered a record 132 ZEV models to the UK market, up 38% since 2023 to account for a third of all models available, with an average range of almost 280 miles – more than two weeks’ of driving for most people.
But one of the major constraints to growth has been lacklustre private buyer demand, with just one in 10 choosing an EV last year. Petrol vehicles remained the most popular among these buyers, accounting for 61.0% of demand, with hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in second place (16.0%). BEVs did, however, prove more popular with businesses and fleets than a year ago, with such vehicles representing a quarter (25.4%) of those segments’ registrations and demonstrating the effectiveness of the compelling tax incentives afforded non-private buyers.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “A record year for EV registrations underscores vehicle manufacturers’ unswerving commitment to a decarbonised new car market, with more choice, better range and increased affordability than ever before. This has come at huge cost, however, with the billions invested in new models being supplemented by generous incentives which are unsustainable. We need rapid results from the regulatory review and urgent substantive support for consumers – else automotive investments will be at risk and the jobs, economic growth and net zero ambitions we all share in jeopardy.”
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