2024.02.0511:38:00UTC+00UK Car Market Hits 1 Mln EV Milestone: SMMT

The UK car market entered a new milestone in January with the registration of one million electric vehicles, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, or SMMT, said Monday.

Car sales posted an annual increase of 8.2 percent in January. Registrations increased 10,882 units to 142,876. This was the best performance for the month since 2020 and the 18th consecutive month of growth. Data showed that the increase was driven entirely by the fleet market, which grew 29.9 percent. Meanwhile, private retail uptake plunged 15.8 percent.

"It's taken just over 20 years to reach our million EV milestone - but with the right policies, we can double down on that success in just another two," SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said.

The lobby said about 20,935 battery electric cars was registered in January. This has taken the overall total since 2022 to 1,001,677 units.

In January, the BEV market share increased to 14.7 percent. Plug-in hybrids recorded volume growth of 31.1 percent to take 8.4 percent of the market. On the other hand, hybrid volumes fell 1.2 percent with a 13.1 percent share.

The new outlook for the car market estimated a total 1.974 million units, which was a 4,000 unit increase on the October estimate. The BEV forecast for the year was reduced to a market share of 21.0 percent from 22.3 percent anticipated in October.