- New car registrations jumped 14.2% in October to 179,714 units, marking the 32nd consecutive month of growth.
- 2,137,910 cars registered in the year-to-date –first time the market has passed two million in October since 2007.
- October performance exceeded expectations; demand for new cars set to stabilise in coming months.
- Rising demand for alternatively-fuelled vehicles continues, with market up more than 50% in both month and year-to-date.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “The October new car market outperformed expectations, with registrations showing the strongest growth in a month since March’s 18% rise. With economic confidence still rising, customers continue to benefit from attractive financial packages on exciting new models.
“We still expect the overall market to level off as we head towards 2015, but the exception to that rule will be alternatively-fuelled vehicles, demand for which will continue to accelerate.”
New car registrations passed two million in October, but how did the first 10 months perform in previous years?
The rise of the alternatively-fuelled vehicle in 2014
- 2014 has seen a significant rise in registrations of alternatively-fuelled vehicles (AFVs). With two months still remaining in the year, registrations are already 12,000 ahead of the full-year total for 2013.
- Petrol-electric hybrid cars have long been the most popular choice for AFV buyers, but other variants are gaining in popularity. Registrations of pure electric cars have more than doubled over last year, while those of plug-in hybrid and range-extended models look set to quadruple by the end of 2014.
- Key to this surge in popularity is a constantly increasing range of models available: in 2011 buyers were restricted to just six plug-in models. Now there are 20 to choose from, in a range of body styles including coupés and SUVs.
Click through to download the full October 2014 new car registrations news release and data table.
