New car registrations fell two percent to 1.61 million units in 2022, a level last seen back in 1992 – although electric cars were a rare bright spot in a year impacted by supply shortages.
EVs are now second only to petrol cars in terms of popularity, easing past diesel with a healthy 16.6 percent market share.
Diesel, by contrast, commanded less than 10 percent of new car sales.
Indeed, plug-in vehicles overall comprised almost one in five new car sales last year, while hybrid vehicles took a further 11.6 percent market share.
This helped average UK new car CO2 emissions fall by another 6.9 percent, to just 111.4g/km – the lowest level in history.
Britain is no. 2
Although overall new car sales in 2022 remain around 700,000 units below 2019 pre-Covid levels, Britain still emerged as the second-largest new car market in Europe.
The UK regained second place from France; Germany remains the largest new car market in Europe by a clear margin.
What’s more, Britain is also the second-largest market for plug-in cars, in terms of overall volume. This is important in helping secure future supplies of electric cars.
However, the SMMT did point out the UK is only 13th in terms of plug-in market share – our 22.8 percent is dwarfed by Norway on 78.3 percent, with the Netherlands on 28.7 percent and Germany on 23.5 percent.
2023 leap forecast
Although 2022 new car sales were subdued, the SMMT is much more positive for 2023.
“The automotive market remains adrift of its pre-pandemic performance but could well buck wider economic trends by delivering significant growth in 2023,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
New car registrations are predicted to be up 15 percent this year, to around 1.8 million units, thanks to improved new car supply.
The SMMT admits this may appear countercyclical, as the UK enters a recession, but car manufacturers are sitting on huge order banks and better supplies will help address them.
The key, said Mike Hawes, will be ensuring future order banks are filled, so new car sales can continue to build in future years.
The usual run-rate of UK new car registrations, he added, is around 2.25 million units. Even at 1.8 million cars in 2023, sales will remain some way adrift of this.
Chargepoint crisis
Mike Hawes said growth in 2023 hinges on the shortage of electric car chargepoints. Last year, chargepoint locator app Zap-Map revealed that the number of new chargers is not keeping pace with the growing number of EVs on the road.
“To secure that growth – which is increasingly zero-emission growth – government must help all drivers go electric and compel others to invest more rapidly in nationwide charging infrastructure,” said Hawes.
The government has forecast that the UK needs between 300,000 and 720,000 chargepoints by 2030.
Meeting just the 300,000 target requires more than 100 new chargers to be installed each day. The current rate is 23 per day.
It is imperative the rollout of new public EV chargers is sped up, he said. Manufacturers have done their bit in rolling out new EVs and “that must be matched with policies and investment that remove consumer uncertainly over switching, not least over where drivers can charge their vehicles”.
Best-selling cars 2022
The Nissan Qashqai was Britain’s best-selling car in 2022, easing past the Vauxhall Corsa that took the 2021 honours.
It means the Nissan Qashqai is the first British-built car to top the UK sales charts since the Ford Escort back in the 1990s. The Qashqai is also designed and engineered here in the UK.
In surely a welcome piece of good news for Elon Musk, the Tesla Model Y was Britain’s third best-selling car in 2022, ahead of the Ford Puma and Mini.
Naturally, the Tesla Model Y led the EV charts too – with the Tesla Model 3 in second place. A huge leap in December deliveries helped Tesla rocket up the sales charts.
Back to the overall rankings and the Kia Sportage was sixth, crowning a super year for Kia, with its sister car the Hyundai Tucson in seventh place.
And what about the UK’s former best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta? It could only scrape into 10th place – and 2023 will be its final year, as Ford has announced that production will cease this summer.
Top 10 best-sellers 2022
- Nissan Qashqai
- Vauxhall Corsa
- Tesla Model Y
- Ford Puma
- Mini
- Kia Sportage
- Hyundai Tucson
- Volkswagen Golf
- Ford Kuga
- Ford Fiesta
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