UK new car registrations jump in January
New car registrations jumped in January, industry data showed on Monday, despite ongoing supply chain pressures.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, a total of 131,994 new cars were registered in January, a 14.7% jump on January 2022 and the sixth successive monthly increase.
It was the best start to the year since before the pandemic, when 149,279 vehicles were registered in January 2020.
Driving the increase was strong demand for electric cars, the SMMT noted. Hybrid electric vehicles comprised 14.4% of new car registrations, while battery electric vehicles accounted for 13.1%.
The trade body expects total car registrations to strengthen 11.1% over 2023, to reach a total of 1.79m units, with plug-in hybrids likely to account for more than one in four of those vehicles.
However, it argued that the rollout of supporting infrastructure was failing to keep pace with demand, noting that the ratio of new chargepoint installations in the fourth quarter fell to one for every 62 cars, compared to one for every 42 cars a year earlier.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: "The automotive industry is already delivering growth that bucks the national trend and is poised, with the right framework, to accelerate the decarbonisation of the UK economy.
"The industry and market are in transition but [are] fragile due to a challenging economic outlook, rising living costs and consumer anxiety over new technology."
The SMMT wants the government to lower VAT on public chargepoints to 5% from 20%, in line with home charging.