UK Car Sales Decline Ahead Of Budget: SMMT

(RTTNews) - UK car market contracted in November ahead of Budget introducing new taxes on electric cars, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, or SMMT, said Thursday.

New car registrations decreased 1.6 percent year-on-year to 151,154 units in November. This was the sixth fall in sales so far this year.

The decline was driven by a 5.5 percent drop in overall demand from private buyers. Fleet uptake gained 0.2 percent, while business buyer volumes, traditionally a very small part of the market, increased 18.0 percent in November.

Underpinned by the Electric Car Grant, battery electric vehicle uptake reached 26.4 percent of market share compared to 25.1 percent in November 2024. However, this 3.6 percent increase represented the weakest month for battery electric vehicle growth in almost two years.

The share of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles decreased as electrified vehicles achieved a record market share. Still 22.7 percent year-to-date market share of BEV vehicles fell short of the 28 percent annual government target, the lobby noted.

"While last week's Budget provided some essential support to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles - including additional funding to extend the Electric Car Grant, an uplift in the threshold from which EVs would be subject to the VED Expensive Car Supplement, and more money for infrastructure rollout - plans to introduce a "pence per mile" electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) will endanger the UK's net zero transition," SMMT said.