New car registrations fall 2% to 1.61 million in 2022, the lowest level since 1992 – despite electric car It was a rare bright spot in a year hit by supply shortages.
In terms of popularity, electric vehicles are now second only to gasoline vehicles, surpassing diesel vehicles with a healthy 16.6% market share.
In contrast, diesel cars accounted for less than 10% of new car sales.
In fact, plug-in cars overall accounted for nearly one-fifth of new car sales last year, with hybrids taking a further 11.6 percent of the market.
This helped average new car CO2 emissions in the UK fall by a further 6.9% to just 111.4g/km – the lowest level on record.
Britain is not. 2
Although total new car sales in 2022 are still around 700,000 below the pre-pandemic level in 2019, the UK remains Europe’s second-largest new car market.
Great Britain regains second place from France; Germany remains Europe’s largest new car market by a wide margin.
What’s more, the UK is also the second largest market for plug-in vehicles in terms of volume. This is important to help ensure the supply of electric vehicles in the future.
However, the SMMT does state that the UK has only 13day In terms of plugin market share – our 22.8% is dwarfed by Norway’s 78.3%, the Netherlands’ 28.7% and Germany’s 23.5%.
2023 Leap Forecast
Despite lackluster new car sales in 2022, the SMMT is more optimistic about 2023.
“The auto market still has not achieved its pre-pandemic performance, but is likely to post significant growth in 2023, bucking broader economic trends,” SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said.
New car registrations are expected to rise 15 percent this year to about 1.8 million vehicles due to improved new car supply.
The SMMT acknowledged that this may look counter-cyclical as the UK enters recession, but carmakers are sitting on large order banks and better supply will help address these issues.
Mike Hawes said the key is to ensure that the future order pool is filled so that new vehicle sales can continue to grow in the years to come.
He added that the normal run rate for new car registrations in the UK was about 2.25 million: even if it hit 1.8 million by 2023, sales would still be nowhere near that.
Charging pile crisis
Mike Hawes said growth in 2023 depended on a shortage of charging points for new cars. Last year, Zap-Map, a charge point locator app, showed that the number of new chargers was not keeping pace with the increase in the number of electric vehicles on the road.
“To ensure this growth – and increasingly zero-emissions growth – the government must help all drivers use electric vehicles and force others to invest more quickly in charging infrastructure across the country,” Hawes said.
The government predicts that the UK will need between 300,000 and 720,000 charging points by 2030.
Just meeting the 300k target would require installing more than 100 new chargers every day.
The current exchange rate is 23 per day.
He said the immediate priority was to speed up the rollout of new public EV chargers. Manufacturers are doing their part in launching new electric vehicles, “which must be matched by policy and investment to remove consumer uncertainty about the switch, especially where drivers can charge their vehicles”.
Best Selling Cars of 2022
The Nissan Qashqai is the best-selling car in the UK for 2022, easily surpassing the Vauxhall Corsa for 2021 honors.
This means the Nissan Qashqai is the first British-made car to top the UK sales charts since the Ford Escort in the 1990s. The Qashqai is also designed and built in the UK.
This is certainly welcome news for Elon Musk, with the Tesla Model Y the third best-selling car in the UK in 2022, ahead of the Ford Puma and Mini.
Naturally, the Tesla Model Y also leads the EV leaderboard – with the Tesla Model 3 in second place. A huge jump in deliveries in December helped Tesla rocket up the sales charts.
Going back to the overall standings, the Kia Sportage came in sixth, giving Kia a supercar of the year, with its sister car, the Hyundai Tucson, in seventh.
What about the Ford Fiesta, once Britain’s perennial best-selling car? it can only scrape into 10day Place – 2023 will be its final year, as the Blue Oval has announced that it will cease production this summer.
Top 10 Bestsellers of 2022
1: Nissan Qashqai
2: Vauxhall Corsa
3: Tesla Model Y
4: Ford Puma
5: Mini
6: Kia Sportage
7: Hyundai Tucson
8: Volkswagen Golf
9: Ford Escape
10: Ford Fiesta
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