New car registrations in the UK rose again in December – up by 18.3 per cent – but registrations for 2022 as a whole were still down 2.0 per cent on 2021.
Figures just released by SMMT show registrations up in December by 18.3 per cent to 128,462, but despite rises in recent months numbers were still down on 2021 by 2.0 per cent to 1.6 million, a whopping 70,000 down on pre-Covid levels.
We also see the now customary rise in registrations of BEVs, although a big market share of 32.9 per cent for December is a figure skewed by Tesla’s quarterly ‘dump’ of deliveries with over 16,000 Teslas registered – more than three times the average monthly Tesla registrations through 2022.
But the rise in BEV registrations – up by 16.6 per cent for 2022 as a whole – adds 267k new EVs to UK roads, although that’s a figure primarily driven by Fleet/Business buyers cashing in on BIK and capital allowances, with only a third of BEVs going to private buyers as EVs remain unaffordable for most private buyers.
The BEV numbers for 2022 mean EVs are now a more popular choice than diesel, and second only to petrol.
Mike Hawes, SMMT CEO, said:
The automotive market remains adrift of its pre-pandemic performance but could well buck wider economic trends by delivering significant growth in 2023. To secure that growth – which is increasingly zero emission growth – government must help all drivers go electric and compel others to invest more rapidly in nationwide charging infrastructure.
Peter says
BEVs sold more than Petrols in December something they were trying to avoid saying!
Cars UK says
Not at all – they did. But only because of the dump of Teslas for the YE and even then BEV only outsold Petrols by just 193 cars. But add in petrol MHEVs and you get another 13k petrols!