- Ford turns its registrations upside down with terrific March 2025 car registration performance
- EVs up…but also down
- Volkswagen also on form
- Citroen registrations plummet
FORGET everything you knew about how the new car market has been tracking over the past few months. March new car registration figures have turned a lot of trends on their head.
March alone has reversed the fortunes of the first quarter of 2025 having gone from running almost 2% down over January and February to a market that ended the first three months up 6.4%. March itself was up more than 12%.
Ford, which has been having a disastrous performance for over the past year – consistently appearing at the bottom of our ‘fastest falling brands’ list – experienced an incredible March with more than 6,600 more cars registered than the same month in 2024. The hike wiped out the falls in the first two months and means that year-to-date the Blue Oval is up more than 2,000 cars. With the Puma topping the new car model chart and the Kuga also doing well, you have to ask:
“Is Ford gambling that the ZEV Mandate review will (significantly) alter the prospect of fines for failing to hit 28% EV mix this year?”
Broker News has put that question to Ford. A spokesman said: “We are still awaiting the government’s response to consultation. Consumer confidence remains a significant hurdle, with ongoing concerns about charging infrastructure, the cost of energy, and vehicle affordability. If the UK is to meet its world-leading EV targets, it requires world-leading incentives to help stimulate demand. The automotive industry cannot achieve these ambitious goals alone, and artificially lowering prices to stimulate demand is not a sustainable solution.”
According to the company, Ford’s car EV mix for Q1 is currently 13.2%.
Electric car volumes
The SMMT trumpeted the fact that March was the best ever month for EV registrations. However, after a strong start to 2025, the all-important EV percentage mix is down both against last month and against the first two months.
February saw a record mix of EVs, taking more than 25% of the market. March saw this figure drop to 19.4%. And over the first two months, the mix was at 22.8% and now at three months it’s at 19.4%.
The likely explanation comes from the significant hike in retail sales.
While both fleet and retail registrations were up, it was retail that climbed fastest, up 14.5% in March. Fleet registrations were up 11.5% in the month.
With retail buyers typically less interested in EVs, our sources say a 10% uptake is normal, this could have diluted the mix.
Indeed, several retailers Broker News spoke to said they’d had either “very good” or “record” March performances for retail sales. Retailers reported this has been due to the number of OEM offers in the market.
What’s happened to Nissan?
Nissan desperately needs to get its EV-mojo back with some new product, because while the Qashqai and Juke feature in the top 10 best-sellers list, there’s little else that appeals to buyers.
As a result, Nissan is the fastest falling car brand year-to-date. Nissan is down more than 5,500 units this year.
A new Leaf and new Micra are due later in 2025, but currently the only electric car Nissan is offering is the Ariya which has not performed particularly well.
With a shrunken model line-up, Nissan could be facing a difficult year.
Fastest fallers in March
Less surprising is that Jaguar is the second fastest falling brand. New car production is now stopped while the brand reinvents itself and becomes a luxury car manufacturer, so retailers are selling off stock before a year of zero cars.
More consistent is the performance of Stellantis: mixed but appears to be improving.
Citroen sits in the fastest fallers chart below; it’s down nearly 5,000 units this year. Vauxhall and Fiat are both down more than 1,000 units each, but Peugeot is continuing a strong 2025 and is the third fastest climbing brand year-to-date, up more than 7,000 cars. The balance means Stellantis is up 1,604 units in 2025.
Interestingly Stellantis now has 10 brands in the UK market with Leapmotor being listed in the SMMT figures for the first time in March.
Fastest rising brands, units YTD
Fastest falling brands, units YTD
1 Volkswagen +11,825
2 BYD +7,993
3 Peugeot +7,230
4 Volvo +5,344
5 Skoda +4,121
5 SEAT -4,197
4 Audi -4,656
3 Citroen -4,985
2 Jaguar -5,034
1 Nissan -5,548
Source: SMMT
Volkswagen and BYD are March risers
Ford wasn’t the only manufacturer to have a very strong March. Market leader Volkswagen was up 9,415 units in March which took its YTD rise to 11,825 cars. That increase means VW now has a market share of more than 9%.
Chinese new entrant BYD’s rise continues. It was up nearly 6,000 units in March to take 1.8% market share. However, with an aim of hitting 60,000 registrations in 2025 it will need to hit around 3% by the end of the year.
What else did we see in March 2025 registrations?
- Tesla sales drop seen in other parts of the world has yet to materialise in the UK. Registrations were fractionally up in March despite the new Model Y having yet to arrive
- Not all Chinese new entrants are romping away. GWM (the brand formerly known as Ora) is running down 80% YTD with only 86 cars registered in 2025.
- Jaecoo & Omoda, however, saw nearly 4,000 cars registered in March having only been on sale for less than a year. Pictured is the Jaecoo 7 SUV.
Read our analysis of February new car registrations
Could EV batteries have a second life as energy storage?
If your customers ever wonder what could happen to their EV’s batteries at the end of their life, they could be powering a building
SMEs see growth of fleet business, says Arval
Smaller companies are more optimistic about the potential for car and van fleet growth, according to new research from Arval
Broker News Newsletter 14 April 2026
Catch up on the latest leasing broker news in the 14 April 2026 Broker News newsletter
Rivervale keeps the Brighton Marathon Weekend moving for the fourth year
Rivervale has provided the wheels to support its hometown Brighton Marathon, from race leadership vehicles to logistics and route management
Alphabet appoints Mia Halpin to look after South East broker partners
Alphabet (GB) has appointed Mia Halpin to the role of Partner Regional Manager to further strengthen its broker channel proposition
Leasing fleet surpasses two million but growth masks margin pressure – BVRLA
The UK’s vehicle leasing fleet has surpassed two million vehicles for the first time, according to the BVRLA’s latest Leasing Outlook report
Tristan Young is an award winning journalist with more than 25 years’ experience reporting on the automotive industry focussing predominantly on fleet and retail. As a self-confessed petrol-head, Tristan has a weakness for car classifieds. When he’s not writing about the automotive industry, he can usually be found outdoors with a small pack of border collies.
