Private buyers are turning their backs on car makers’ battery-powered offerings, latest sales figures suggest. The total number of cars sold in September this year was 276,610, a 21 per cent increase on September 2022, powered by a huge 40.8 increase in fleet registrations. Last September’s fleet sales were constrained by supply issues, says the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which compiles the data.
There was growth in sales of all types of electrified vehicles in September too, with plug-in hybrid (PHEVs) up 50.9 per cent, and self-charging hybrids up 30.7 per cent. Full-electric battery-powered cars (BEVs) rose by 18.9 per cent, but as that was less than the market growth overall, BEV market share actually slipped backwards from 16.9 to 16.6 per cent.
Worryingly for a car industry faced with a ZEV Mandate from January, when 22 per cent of each manufacturer’s sales must be ‘zero-emission’, sales of BEVs to private buyers fell back by -14.3 per cent. That means fewer than one in 10 private buyers opted for an electric car in September, the SMMT says, and the organisation has renewed calls for government incentives and other mechanisms to boost sales and stimulate demand.
Read Article