• New car registrations reach 2.02 million in 2025 with market up 3.5% year on year.
• Internal combustion engine still biggest selling powertrain but growing demand for electrified cars narrows majority to just 51.5%.1
• Almost half a million new BEVs join the road as around one in four buyers go electric – but gap between demand and ambition widens.
• Industry urges government to bring forward review to support industry competitiveness and sustainability.
New car registrations data December 2025
The UK new car market grew for the third year in a row in 2025, breaching the two million mark for the first time since the pandemic, with 2,020,520 new car registrations, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).Uptake in December rose by 3.9% to 146,249 units, with a final flourish in the private buyer market, up by 16.0%. Repeating a pattern seen in previous years, 2 battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations took a high market share in the final month of the year, accounting for 32.2% of the market – the only time the ZEV mandate target of 28% was exceeded in 2025. (....)