2015 breaks all previous UK vehicle registration records

The UK have smashed the record for new car registrations for the fourth year in a row, beating 2014 record by 2.63 million vehicles being registered in 2015. The record breaking year exceeded forecasts with a rise of 6.3% in demand. The amount of new car registrations in the UK have been on the rise consistently for the past 46 months with December 2015 being the biggest yet. December saw 180,077 new cars registered – an increase of 8.4%.

The 6.3% rise brought the total amount of new cars registered in the UK to 2,633,503 vehicles. This incredible amount has surpassed all expectations and forecasts set out and outperformed the previous record year in 2003 when 2,579,050 new vehicles were registered in the UK. This marks only the fourth time that the market has exceeded 2.5 million vehicles registered in a year.

Vehicles of all fuel types saw an increase in registrations over 2015, petrol and diesel registrations rose by 8.4% and 3% respectively with equal market shares. The demand for alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFV) surged by 40.3% which secured a record breaking 2.8% market share for AVFs throughout 2015. Plug-in hybrids continue to surge with volumes more than doubling, and pure electric vehicles followed suit by gaining an increase of 50%.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said,

The new car market defied expectations in 2015, hitting an all time record driven by strong consumer and business confidence. Buyers took advantage of attractive finance deals and low inflation to secure some of the most innovative, high tech and fuel efficient vehicles ever produced. The past four years have seen a remarkable period of sustained growth, and the outlook remains positive with every reason to expect the market to hold broadly steady in 2016.