September could be on course to be a record month for electric car sales in the UK after manufacturers, led by Tesla, increased the attractiveness of finance offers.
Car makers are scrambling to hit the target set by the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate that calls for 22% of new car sales to be electric this year. Some flexibility is available – for example, via increased sales of plug-in hybrids – but many key manufacturers including the Volkswagen Group, Ford, Toyota and the Renault Group are pushing hard to raise EV sales and avoid fines after selling significantly below their target in the first half of the year.
Discounts on the price of an electric car are running at around 9.6% – equivalent to an average of £5596 – the What Car? Target Price team calculated at the beginning of the month.
However, Tesla’s September push is the one that’s expected to really move EV sales in the plate-change month, with an eye-catching personal lease offer of £299 a month on the Model Y. The Y is the UK’s biggest-selling electric model this year to the end of August, according to SMMT figures.
Tesla’s direct-sales model fixes the price of the cars but the US company has more flexibility when it comes to finance, hence the generous three-year, 30,000-mile deal. With the down payment, it works out at £424 a month, less than the price of Hyundai’s lease deal on a Kona small electric SUV with the 65kWh battery. The Model Y is two classes bigger than the Hyundai.
To take advantage of the offer, Tesla buyers must take delivery before of the end of the month, which also marks the end of the financial quarter for the company. Tesla ships in stock and typically buyers pick up the cars from whichever dealer holds the car closest to the spec the customer requires.
One buyer posting on Reddit this week noted the number of Model Ys at Southampton Docks, where they picked up their new car. “I was amazed at how many cars there were, firstly in a multi-storey, and then in two big car parks on either side of the road running through the docks area,” the buyer wrote.
A big push from Tesla can easily lift overall EV sales, as we saw in August. The Model 3 and Model Y were the two biggest-sellers in what was a record EV month, pushing the brand to first place in the electric charts and outselling second-placed BMW by two to one. That contrasted with July, when BMW was the top EV seller, both in the UK and across Europe.
Last month, electric registrations hit 23% of overall car sales, according to the SMMT, making it the first month the UK exceeded its EV target for the year.
September could be on course to be only the second month in the UK to break the 50,000 mark for EV sales. September is typically a big sales month, like March, due to the numberplate change. The record EV sales month was March 2022, with 52,200 sold.
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