In October, new passenger car registrations in the UK increased by 26% year-over-year to 134,344, which is the third month of growth. However, year-to-date sales decreased to 1,342,712 (down 6% vs. already weak 2021) and this year is expected to be the weakest since 1982.
At the same time, plug-in electric car sales continue to expand. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reports 28,832 new passenger plug-in car registrations in October (up 18% year-over-year). Market share was 21.5% (compared to 23.1% a year ago).
Not only all-electric but finally also plug-in hybrids noted growth in sales last month. BEVs went up by 23%, while PHEVs by 6%. It's worth noting that non-rechargeable hybrids (HEVs) were also up by 82% year-over-year and took an 11.7% share.
Plug-in electric car registrations in the UK – October 2022
- BEVs: 19,933 (up 23% year-over-year) at a market share of 14.8%
- PHEVs: 8,899 (up 6% year-over-year) at a market share of 6.6%
- Total: 28,832 (up 18% year-over-year) at a market share of 21.5%
So far this year, more than 278,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in the UK, reaching an average market share of over 20%.
New plug-in car registrations, year-to-date in 2022:
- BEVs: 195,547 (up 38% year-over-year) at a market share of 14.6%
- PHEVs: 82,860 (down 13% year-over-year) at a market share of 6.2%
- Total: 278,407 (up 18% year-over-year) at a market share of 20.7%
For reference, in the twelve months of 2021, some 305,281 plug-in electric cars were registered (up 74% year-over-year) at 18.5% market share.
More details, including also other types:
Top models
Polestar announced that, in October, it delivered a record number of 1,069 Polestar 2 electric cars, which enabled it to cumulatively exceed 10,000 units in the British market.
The brief stats provided by SMMT do not allow us to see individual registration results for electric cars, but the Tesla Model Y remains in the top 10 for the year with 20,658, despite just 4 new units in October. Let's recall that in September, the Tesla Model Y noted 8,315 units (#2 best for the month), which allowed it to jump into the top 8 for the year.
We guess that the Fiat 500 (#10 in October with 2,169) has some noticeable share of the all-electric version.
LCVs
In the case of light commercial vehicles (LCV), some 22,386 were registered last month (down 18% year-over-year). Out of that, about 1,706 were all-electric (up 53%), which translated to a market share of 7.6%.
Opel's Vauxhall reports that its Vivaro Electric remains the best-selling electric LCV in the UK with 3,254 units (244 in October).
