New car, van registrations decline in November
By Josh White
Date: Thursday 04 Dec 2025
(Sharecast News) - The UK automotive market weakened in November as new car and van registrations declined, with the industry warning that upcoming tax changes risked undermining already fragile demand for electric vehicles.
New car registrations fell 1.6% to 151,154 units, marking the sector's sixth monthly drop this year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
The decline was driven by a 5.5% fall in private buyer demand, while fleet sales were broadly flat and business registrations, a small segment of the market, rose 18%.
Despite the wider slowdown, electrified vehicles continued to gain ground, accounting for more than half of all new cars sold for the third month running.
Battery electric vehicles reached a 26.4% market share, marginally higher than a year ago, although growth of just 3.6% represented the weakest rise in almost two years.
Plug-in hybrids saw the strongest increase, up 14.8% to nearly 12% of the market.
The SMMT said recent Budget measures, including additional funding for the Electric Car Grant and support for charging infrastructure, would assist the transition.
However, it cautioned that the planned introduction of a per-mile tax on electric vehicles would derail momentum just as sales needed to accelerate to meet government emissions targets.
"Even in a fragile market, zero emission vehicle uptake continues to rise, which is exactly what we need," said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
"But the weakest growth for almost two years - ahead of government announcing a new tax on EVs - should be seen as a wake-up call that sustained increase in demand for EVs cannot be taken for granted."
The light commercial vehicle sector posted an even steeper decline, with new van, pickup and 4x4 registrations dropping 22.2% to 23,570 units.
The contraction affected all segments, with large vans down 19.7% and pickups falling 34.8%, a drop the SMMT linked to fiscal changes treating double cab models as cars for tax purposes.
Year-to-date registrations were now 11.4% lower than the same period in 2024.
Electric vans bucked the downward trend, rising 25.3% to 2,909 units and securing a record 12.3% monthly share.
Battery electric van sales had increased 44.7% so far this year, aided by grants and expanding model choice.
Yet their 9.4% share remained well short of the 16% mandated for 2025, with higher purchase costs, lengthy depot grid connection delays and inadequate commercial charging provision cited as major obstacles.
Hawes said subdued van demand reflected weak business confidence and warned that slower fleet renewal risked stalling progress towards net zero.
"While it is encouraging that zero emission van uptake is rising, the pace of change severely lags government ambition, and every lever must be pulled to support demand and protect industry investment - both of which are essential to our shared net zero goals," he said.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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