The United Kingdom recorded year-on-year growth in its new passenger car registrations of 15% to 131,994 units in January 2023, as per the data provided by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
“The automotive industry is already delivering growth that bucks the national trend and is poised, with the right framework, to accelerate the decarbonisation of the UK economy. The industry and market are in transition, but fragile due to a challenging economic outlook, rising living costs and consumer anxiety over new technology. We look to a Budget that will reaffirm the commitment to net zero and provide measures that drive green growth for the sector and the nation.”
SMMT CEO Mike Hawes
Plug-in electric car registrations in the UK – January 2023
Plug-in car registrations in the UK reached 26,403 units last month, representing a YoY decline of 20%.
Nonetheless, the all-electric car market grew significantly, with 17,294 new registrations, up about 20%.
As for the plug-in hybrids, the UK reported a slight YoY growth of 0.7% to 9,109 new registrations.
January 2023 results:
| Sales and Changes | Market Share | |
| BEVs | 17,294, up 20% YoY | 13.1% |
| PHEVs | 9,109, up 0.7% YoY | 6.9% |
| Total | 26,403, up 12% YoY | 20.0% |
Plug-in electric car registrations in the UK – FY 2022
In retrospect, the UK recorded over 368,000 new passenger plug-in registrations in FY 2022, representing 22.8% of the overall market.
New plug-in car registrations YTD 2022:
| Sales and Changes | Market Share | |
| BEVs | 267,203, up 40% YoY | 16.6% |
| PHEVs | 101,414, down 11% YoY | 6.3% |
| Total | 368,617, up 21% YoY | 22.8% |
The SMMT projects that more than one in four new registrations in the UK will be plug-in vehicles in 2023 and nearly one in three in 2024.
However, it claims that the charging infrastructure deployment remains the problem since it is currently insufficient.
Top models in the UK in January 2023
MG HS dominated the UK’s car market in January with 3,481 sales. The Volkswagen T-Roc followed it with 3,256 sales.
Moreover, the Nissan Qashqai (3,121), the Kia Niro (2,625), and the Vauxhall Corsa (2,425) completed the top 5.
It is worth noting that the Tesla Model Y was UK’s third best-selling car last year. However, the majority of Tesla‘s deliveries in the UK typically occur in the last few months of a quarter.
