UK New Car Registrations Reach 10-Year High In 2014
2,476,435 new cars registered in the UK in 2014 – the most in a calendar year since 2004.
Year was fourth-largest of all time; only 2002, 2003 and 2004 saw more cars registered.
2014 market grew 9.3% over the previous year, ahead of the EU average of 5.7%*.
UK remains second largest market in EU (behind Germany and ahead of France, Italy and Spain), and recorded second-largest growth of these top five EU markets.
Every month in 2014 saw an increase, with December’s 8.7% rise the 34th consecutive month of growth.
Huge growth for plug-in car market, which saw volumes quadruple from 3,586 in 2013 to 14,498 in 2014.
*January-November data (Source: ACEA)
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “UK new car registrations returned to pre-recession levels in 2014, as pent-up demand from the recession years combined with confidence in the economy saw consumer demand for the latest models grow consistently and strongly.
“The year was particularly strong for alternatively-fuelled vehicles as increased choice, coupled with a growing desire for reduced costs and greater efficiency, resulted in a quadrupling of plug-in car registrations over 2013. With a variety of new plug-in models expected in 2015, this area of the market will continue to grow significantly. For the market as a whole, we expect a more stable 2015 as demand levels off.”
