New Car Sales NUDGE up in May – Ford Puma the best-seller

New car registrations grew in May 2025 by 1.6%, driven by fleet sales and growth in sales of electrified cars.

The UK car industry is buckling under the weight of the ZEV mandate, high interest rates and a cost of living crisis, but May 2025’s new car sales figures do offer a glimmer of hope, with numbers rising by 1.6% to 150,070, the highest number since May 2021, but still 18.3% lower than pre-Covid 2019.

The growth in numbers is down to Fleet registrations, which grew by 3.7% and a market share of 60%, whilst private buyer numbers fell by 2.3% for a 37.4% market share.

Inevitably, the sales of electrified vehicles (BEV, PHEV and HEV) grew and accounted for a combined 47.3% of sales, with PHEV numbers up by 50.8%, HEV up by 6.8% and BEVs up by 25.8%, but with a market share of just 21.8% BEVs are still a long way off the mandated 28% for 2025.

Mike Hawes, SMMT boss, said:

A return to growth for new car registrations in May is welcome but manufacturer discounting on new products continues to underpin the market, notably for electric vehicles. This cannot be sustained indefinitely as it undermines the ability of companies to invest in new product development.

The top-selling models in May were the same as they have been all year, with the Ford Puma taking the top spot with 3,695 sales, the Kia Sportage with 3,256 and the Nissan Qashqai with 3,088.