UK car sales recover for fourth consecutive month

The Ford Fiesta displaced the Vauxhall Corsa in the UK sales charts during November, as the market enjoyed its fourth consecutive month of year-on-year growth.

A total of 142,889 cars were registered during November 2022, a 23.5% increase over the same period last year, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

This was primarily driven by a sharp incline in sales to fleets – up 45.4% from 51,005 in November 2021 to 74,184 in November 2022.

As in previous months, sales of electric cars continued to grow strongly, being up 35.2% on November 2021, from 21,726 to 29,372.

This is likely related to the aforementioned incline in fleet registrations, as EV uptake is heavily incentivised by a low benefit-in-kind tax rate for zero-emissions company cars. It's frozen at 2% until the 2025-26 tax year, when it will rise to 3%.

Combined with plug-in hybrids, EVs accounted for more than a quarter (27.7%) of the new cars registered during November 2022.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes warned that further investment in the UK's public charging network is required to maintain this growth in the long term, so that it's “built ahead of need”.

Parallel (or ‘self-charging’) hybrid sales also rose sharply, up 66.9% from 9624 to 16,066, with the electrified Toyota Yaris (pictured below) appearing in the top 10 models for the month.

Diesel cars continued their slump, down 5.6% to 5605 sales, although registrations of mild-hybrid oil-burners actually increased by 18.6% to 6141.

Despite the four months of consecutive growth, year-to-date car sales are down by 3.4%, from 1,538,585 by the end of November 2021 to 1,485,601 by the end of November 2022.

This isn't necessarily a reflection of reduced demand for new cars but of manufacturers’ inability to make enough product. The semiconductor chip shortage and the lasting effect of other supply issues wrought by the war in Ukraine (such as of wiring looms) continue to swell waiting lists. For example, Jaguar Land Rover recently reported a record order bank of 205,000 cars.