New car registrations UP by 14.7% in January – the best since Covid

New car registrations in January 2023 rose by 14.7 per cent year-on-year to 131,994, the best since pre-Covid 2020.

New car registrations in the UK start 2023 on a high, with numbers up by 14.7 per cent on 2022 to 131,994, not quite as high as pre-Covid 2020 (January 202’s numbers were 149,279) but a welcome improvement on the last couple of years.

As we’ve become used to – partly because manufacturers are using constrained parts supply to prioritise them – electrified vehicles performed well, with HEVs accounting for 14.4 per cent of registrations, PHEVs a very modest 0.7 per cent rise, and BEVs up by 19.8 per cent for a 13.1 per cent share (actually a bit below 2022’s average.

The rise in numbers was entirely down to increases in fleet registrations – up by a whopping 36.8 per cent – and a 45.6 per cent increase by businesses (although business registrations are a small part of the pie). Private registrations fell by 4.3 per cent.

Mike Hawes, SMMT CEO, said:

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.

The SMMT is now predicting UK registrations in 2023 will hit 1.79 million, an increase of 11.1 per cent over 2022 but still below pre-Covid levels.