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New figures released for November's new car sales by New Automotive: comment
By Colin Walker
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Commenting on the figures for November’s new car sales released by New Automotive, Colin Walker, Head of Transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said:
“Yet again we have a month in which more than one in four cars sold was an EV, while pure petrol and diesel cars together now account for less than one in three new cars sold. With competition between manufacturers hotting up, and the price of new EVs continuing to come down [1], more and more British households are finding that cheaper and cleaner electric driving is within reach, and are making the move in ever increasing numbers.
“This strong performance moves the car industry even further ahead of where it needs to be to hit its EV sales targets for the second year running [2]. And while Chinese manufacturers have recorded impressively strong growth in EV sales in the UK, so too have legacy manufacturers such as Ford, Renault, Skoda, Cupra, VW and Mini.
“While the Government has risked weakening this impressive growth in EV sales by introducing a 3p per mile tax on EVs, potentially undermining consumer confidence, the fact remains that EVs will remain capable of delivering significant savings over a petrol car. Even with the 3p per mile tax, new EVs will continue to be able to save their owners around £1000 a year. [3] Meanwhile second-hand EVs – whose upfront sticker prices are now the same as petrol cars – will continue to be able to deliver even greater savings of around £1450 a year”. [4]
Notes to editors:
1. Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/renault-alpine-electric-car-grant-b2876623.html
2. Analysis by New Automotive shows that, once the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate’s flexibilities are taken into account, the real EV sales target that the industry as a whole needs to hit for 2025 falls from 28% to 21.69%. YTD EV sales for 2025 currently stand at 23.6%.
4. ECIU: https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2025/popular-second-hand-evs-can-save-their-drivers-1-450-a-year-despite-new-3p-per-mile-tax-on-evs
For more information or for interview requests:
George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net
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