New-car sales in the UK surpassed 2 million last year for the first time since the pandemic, buoyed in part by automakers offering more than £5 billion ($6.7 billion) worth of discounts on electric vehicles.
Registrations rose 3.5% to 2.02 million in 2025, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said Tuesday. Sales of fully electric models climbed around a quarter, accounting for 23% of the market. That’s an improvement over 2024 but still short of the government’s EV sales mandate of 28% — and 10 percentage points below this year’s target.
Brands from the Asian country have pushed hard into Britain, with Chery and Geely starting sales last year. The UK is particularly attractive to them as it hasn’t followed the European Union in introducing tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.
Read More: China Takes Record Share of Europe’s EV Market in November
The growing Chinese presence is piling pressure on automakers from Japan, South Korea and parts of Europe. On top of that, these companies are grappling with the EV mandate, with fines of as much as £12,000 per vehicle for failing to comply — though they can avoid penalties by using a credits-trading system and through other flexibilities.
Manufacturers offered more than £5 billion last year in EV discounts — equivalent to £11,000 per battery-electric vehicle registered — according to the SMMT, citing data from Jato Dynamics and Auto Trader. This is “clearly unsustainable,” the lobby group said.
Despite the sales gain, last year was challenging for the UK car industry. US tariffs caused chaos and ultimately added costs for automakers, while production was affected by a crippling cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover. Britain’s biggest carmaker was forced to shut down its factories for almost six weeks, prompting the government to step in with a £1.5 billion emergency loan guarantee to help struggling suppliers.
Elsewhere, van production was hit last year after Stellantis NV shuttered its plant in Luton. Light commercial vehicle sales fell 10%.
Source: bloomberg