- Positive start to car registrations in 2024
- Helped by end of month push by OEMs
- EVs take 14.7% market share compared with 13.1% in 2023
HEADLINE numbers for January’s new car sales look positive with an 8% rise over the same month last year, however, Broker News sources claimed the month was running just below last year’s figures until a few days before month-end.
While retail registrations were down 15.8% in January, fleet figures were up 29.9% and accounted for 63.2% of the market.
The data would suggest car makers pushed vehicles into the market at the end of the month, marking a return to large-scale pre-registration.
Experts have warned this may not last as the UK could face new car supply disruption due to the Red Sea crisis.
“The impact of the Red Sea crisis will begin to filter through by way of higher showroom prices, with some OEMs halting production due to part shortages – reducing output temporarily at a time of good demand. The market is, however, still at risk of an oversupply of BEVs in the medium term if consumers continue to be priced out of the market, with carmakers increasing plug-in production following the introduction of the ZEV mandate.”
SMMT stats show that pure electric cars took 14.7% of the new car market in the first month of 2024. The same time last year, this figure was at 13.1%. However, the market share for EVs for the whole of 2023 was 16.5%.
Speaking off the record, one car manufacturer told Broker News they expected January’s pure EV volume to be better than it was because other brands were thought to have been delaying registering electric cars in December in order to get a boost in 2024 in order to hit strict new zero emission vehicle (ZEV) targets.
These ZEV targets require all car makers to meet a 22% electric vehicle mix this year, although there are complex off-set rules that mean plug-in cars and very low emission ICE cars will help lower that 22%. Failure to reach the target will result in a £15,000 fine for every car that falls short.
Broker News sources within retail groups have said that while fleet sales are predominantly of pure electric cars or plug-in hybrids, private retail new car sales are currently proving difficult particularly due to the higher price over the equivalent petrol car and broader confusion around charging and range of electric cars.
January surprises: VW top brand
Looking at the individual brands, January revealed a few surprises.
Topping the chart overall was Volkswagen with BMW second and Kia third, with Ford and Audi taking fourth and fifth respectively.
Top five brands by volume - January 2024
- Volkswagen 11,460
- BMW 10,795
- Kia 10,207
- Ford 9,696
- Audi 8,832
Looking at the volume changes reveals a different story.
Vauxhall was up more than 3,000 units with BMW and Nissan on a similar uplift.
Mercedes, offering an extensive raft of discounts and finance incentives, was up nearly 500 cars.
However, Toyota saw by far the biggest drop; down nearly 2,500 cars on January last year. The next biggest faller was Volkswagen which was down fewer than 1,000 cars. After months of continuous gains, retail dominated MG recorded a drop of more than 700 cars in January in economically straightened times.
Best and worst performers by volume uplift January 2024
- Vauxhall +3,077
- BMW +2,983
- Nissan +2,968
- Peugeot +2,341
- Land Rover +1,494
- Toyota -2,495
- Volkswagen -967
- MG -722
- Polestar -679
- Fiat -666
Total new car market 2024
Source SMMT data.
Read our new car market analysis of December 2023 registrations
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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.
