UK fresh car registrations reach 10-year high in 2014

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “UK fresh car registrations returned to pre-recession levels in 2014, as pent-up request from the recession years combined with confidence in the economy witnessed consumer request for the latest models grow consistently and strongly.

“The year was particularly strong for alternatively-fuelled vehicles as enhanced choice, coupled with a growing desire for diminished costs and greater efficiency, resulted in a quadrupling of plug-in car registrations over 2013. With a multiplicity of fresh plug-in models expected in 2015, this area of the market will proceed to grow significantly. For the market as a entire, we expect a more stable two thousand fifteen as request levels off.”

UK fresh car registrations (rolling year total) – 2008-2014, with two thousand fifteen forecast

2014: the year of the alternatively-fuelled vehicle

• 2014 eyed a remarkable surge in request for ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs): registrations of plug-in cars enlargened four-fold from Three,586 in two thousand thirteen to 14,498 in 2014.

• ULEVs suggest enlargened efficiency and diminished running costs, and enhancing consumer awareness has driven registrations upwards.

• Consumers are faced with a burgeoning choice when it comes to ULEVs: there are now more than twenty models available to buy, compared with just six in 2011. Bod styles include hatchbacks, SUVs and coupés.

• Each of the ten best-selling brands in the UK now has a ULEV in its model range.

Registrations in top five EU markets, January-November two thousand fourteen (Source: ACEA)

• The UK car market has seen the second-largest level of growth in Europe, Trio.6 percentage points greater than the EU average of Five.7%.

• Moderate growth was seen in the majority of Europe’s largest markets – France (1.1%), Germany (Two.6%) and Italy (Four.3%).

• A national scrappage scheme means Spain is the only market in the EU top five to exceed the UK’s level of growth, posting an Eighteen.1% increase.

Share of UK fresh car market by segment – 1999, 2004, two thousand nine and 2014

• The past fifteen years have seen a shift in the types of cars that people are buying, with two trends particularly evident.

• As buyers seek lower running costs, request for puny cars (Mini and Supermini segments) has grown. The latest petite cars suggest significant advances in convenience and safety levels.

• A more latest trend is the strong growth of the Dual Purpose (Four×Four, crossovers) and Multi Purpose segments, with buyers attracted by the extra space, style and versatility suggested by these models.

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