Last month was the best February for new car registrations for 20 years, according to new figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
A boost of 14% compared with February 2023 mark the strongest performance for new cars in the last month of winter since 2004.
Hybrid boost
The boost was driven entirely by increases in investment by fleets, whose purchases of new cars increased 25.2%, and businesses, whose purchases increased 15.5%. Last month was the nineteenth month in a row for growth for the UK industry.
Where the numbers were less strong, however, was sales to individual drivers. Those fell by 2.6%, leaving the market share of individual drivers at 33.7%. The SMMT notes, however, that February is usually the lowest-volume month of the year, as buyers often prefer to purchase a new car in March to get a more up-to-date number plate.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles saw the biggest proportional growth with a 29.1% boost that means they now account for 7.2% of the market. Battery electric vehicles (EVs) also rose 21.8%, making up 17.7% of new cars registered. Last year’s figure was 16.5%.
The SMMT points out that the growth in EV registrations is “entirely sustained by fleets”, with only one in five new fully electric vehicles purchased by individuals.
SMMT chief executive, Mike Hawes, said:
“The new car market’s ability to deliver growth continues with its best February for 20 years and this week’s Budget is an opportunity to ensure that growth is greener.
“Tackling the triple tax barrier as the market embarks on its busiest month of the year would boost EV demand, cutting carbon emissions and energising the economy. It will deliver a faster and fairer zero emission transition, putting Britain’s EV ambition back in the fast lane.”
Leaf it out
One pioneer of EVs in the UK is Nissan, which was among the first to offer an EV for UK roads in the form of its Leaf model, according to the BBC.
Nissan has been accused this week of “dumping its pioneers”, however, following the announcement that the remote-control app for operating some functions of the cars will be switched off for those using models produced before 2016.
The reason, Nissan says, is that the UK is switching off its 2G data network through which the app connects to the cars – though this network is not in fact being fully phased out until the end of the decade.
Another Japanese manufacturer, Toyota, shared more positive news yesterday (5 March), when it announced that it plans to invest US$2.22bn in Brazil to accelerate production of hybrid and battery-equipped hybrid cars before 2030, according to Reuters.
Price war
The world’s largest EV market is China, where the manufacturer BYD is engaged in a price war with American firm Tesla.
Recent price cuts have boosted BYD to the crown of largest EV seller in the world, despite selling the majority of their cars domestically in China.
China’s exports of EVs and plug-in hybrids, meanwhile, are projected to grow by only 13% this year, compared with last year’s figure of 38%.
That number may be in large part down to increasing alarm about Chinese vehicle imports in the US.
Yesterday, Republican senator Marco Rubio put forward a proposal increasing tariffs on Chinese vehicles by $20,000 to “safeguard American automakers and workers against the influx of artificially cheap vehicles from China”.
There are also national security fears. We reported last week on how US president Joe Biden said that modern cars are “smartphones on wheels”, and that their ability to gather data “could pose a serious risk”.