In August, new passenger car registrations in the UK increased by 1.2% year-over-year to 68,858, which is a good sign after five months of consecutive decline. However, during the first eight months of the year, car registrations were 11% lower than a year ago at 983,089.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) explains that in August car sales increased mostly because of battery-electric cars, which noted the highest year-over-year growth.

Last month, some 13,890 plug-in electric cars were registered, which is 12% more than a year ago and 20% of the total market. It's not a bad result, considering three months of decline.

Important is the growth of BEVs by over 35% year-over-year to over 10,000 registrations, while plug-in hybrids continue its decline by 23% year-over-year to less than 4,000. Conventional hybrids were also down but by only 0.7%.

So far this year, more than 199,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in the UK, reaching an average market share of over 20%.

New plug-in car registrations, year-to-date in 2022:

For reference, in twelve months of 2021, some 305,281 plug-in electric cars were registered (up 74% year-over-year) at 18.5% market share.

More details, including also other types:

In August, none of the standalone electric models were able to break into the top 10 for the month or year-to-date. In June, the Tesla Model Y was second best (and 10th YTD).

In the case of light commercial vehicles (LCV), some 15,520 were registered last month (down 25% year-over-year). Out of that, about 944 were all-electric (up 15%), which translated to a market share of 6.1%.

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