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The UK new car market grew for the third year in a row in 2025, climbing above the two million mark for the first time since the pandemic, with 2,020,520 new car registrations, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Uptake in December rose by 3.9% to 146,249 units. Repeating a pattern seen in previous years, battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations took a high market share in the final month of the year, accounting for 32.2% of the market.
As a result, last year’s market rose by 3.5%, with growth across all buyer types. Demand from private buyers recovered slightly from 2024 – when uptake fell below levels last seen during 2020 – with a 4.5% increase to 779,587 units, but still only comprising 38.6% of registrations. Fleet and business registrations also rose, up 2.6% to 1,194,545 and 8.8% to 46,388, respectively.
Electrified vehicles narrowly missed becoming the majority of the market despite a surge during the last quarter. Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) volumes rose by 7.2% to achieve a 13.9% market share, while plug-in hybrids were the fastest growing powertrain, with volumes increasing 34.7% to take 11.1% of registrations.
Almost half a million (473,348) new BEVs were registered during 2025 – more than in the whole of 2021 and 2022 combined. This volume, which is likely to place the UK as the second biggest EV market in Europe by volume, saw BEV market share rise to 23.4%.
Meanwhile, the UK’s new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market declined by -10.3% in 2025 with 315,422 vans, pickups and 4x4s registered.
Across the year, registrations of new medium-sized vans declined -20.7% to 51,639 units, while large vans dropped -9.8% to 210,262 but remained the most popular segment with a 66.7% share of the overall market. Pickups also ended the year down, by -0.7% with 37,308 registrations, despite growth in early 2025 to get ahead of government’s tax change – which now treats double cabs as cars for benefit in kind and capital allowance purposes. There was growth in the lower-volume segments, with registrations of small vans and 4x4s up 1.9% and 2.3% respectively, to 8,766 and 7,447 units.
More positively, deliveries of new battery electric vans (BEVs) rose by 36.2% with 30,169 registrations – a new annual record. However, the full year EV market share stands at only 9.5%.
More information: Automotive Industry News UK - SMMT.
