SMMT reports UK car registrations up 5.4% to 152,730 in October as BEV share hits 32.0% against 33% target
UK new car registrations rose 5.4% to 152,730 in October, the 11th monthly rise, while battery electric share reached 32.0% but remains 26.6% for the year to date.
UK new car registrations rose 5.4% to 152,730 in October, the 11th monthly increase, with battery electric cars taking 32.0%, their highest share this year.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said growth was around half the rate of the first 10 months of the year, which stood at 9.8%, after a September number-plate change month.
Battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations rose 32.7% in October. The year-to-date BEV share is 26.6%, against the 33% annual target under the ZEV Mandate, the rule setting the share of new sales that must be zero-emission.
BEV registrations for the year so far total 503,805, up 30.4% on a year ago.
Plug-in hybrids and BEVs accounted for all of October’s growth. Plug-in hybrid registrations rose 30.1% to a 15.0% share, while hybrids fell 5.0%, their second monthly decline. Electrified cars together took 59.0% of registrations.
Fleet registrations rose 5.4% to 89,985, a 58.9% share of the market. Private demand increased 4.1% to 58,229 for a 38.1% share, and business registrations climbed 24.5% to 4,516.
SMMT said manufacturers had pushed BEV registrations closer to the annual target in October, repeating the pattern of the previous two years. It said they had spent billions on discounts, low and 0% finance, deposit contributions and subsidised charging.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “Almost one in three new cars registered in October was electric, great progress in the transition, but one that comes at enormous cost.”
SMMT’s latest outlook expects BEV share to reach 27.2% this year, up from 23.4% in 2025. That is 5.8 percentage points below the 33% target.
The gap is forecast to widen. SMMT expects a 32.0% share in 2027 against a 38% target, and 37.5% in 2028, 14.5 percentage points behind the required 52%. That is more than double this year’s shortfall.
The outlook was prepared before the 28 October Budget. It says both car and van markets are expected to fall short of the headline targets and to sit closest to the lowest trajectories proposed in the ZEV Mandate consultation.
SMMT said the Budget contained little to drive the market. It pointed to a new EV-specific tax, eVED, confirmed from 2028, and a proposal to keep VAT on public charging at 20% while domestic charging is VAT-free.
The trade body said this “sends mixed messages to consumers”. It is urging government to revise the targets down and to allow full flexibilities throughout the regulation.
SMMT put the new car market at 2.219 million units for 2026, 9.8% above 2025. It expects 2.267 million in 2027 and 2.320 million in 2028.
Industry has committed £14.3bn to UK EV manufacturing since 2020, according to SMMT, which says more than 180 BEV models are now on sale. It puts the UK automotive industrial base at £85bn, supporting 188,000 jobs.
The figures bear on EV sales and charging policy, where the target trajectory is the main dispute.
Hawes said: “The ZEV Mandate review must deliver substantive reform effective immediately to ensure we have a healthy market and an attractive pitch to investors.”
More on EVs & Charging
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- Budget sets aside £100m to cut prices at lower-powered public EV chargers from spring 2027
- Guardian reports DfT ZEV mandate consultation could give carmakers a V2G credit to sell one more petrol car
