The UK new-car saw another monthly volume drop in November, as its rollercoaster ride continued. In total, 151,154 new passenger cars were registered in the month, according to the latest data from the SMMT.
This was a 1.6% decline year-on-year, marking the sixth month of volume drop between January and November A slowdown in the BEV sector contributed to this decline.
After 11 months of 2025, the UK’s new-car market was up 3.4%, with 1,874,271 registrations. The country is likely to see over two million deliveries for the first time since 2019. December would need to see a 10.7% decline in volumes to miss out.
The UK saw private car sales fall 5.5% in November. However, with just 0.2% of growth in the fleet sector, which leads in terms of volumes, the new-car market was likely to struggle. Business registrations, which make up a small percentage of overall volumes, increased 18%. This equated to a rise of just 561 units, however.
EVs prop up uneven market
The UK is seeing registrations of petrol and diesel models decline each month. However, unlike other major markets, the SMMT merges mild-hybrids in with their respective petrol and diesel powertrains.
This means that reporting of hybrids is based solely on full-hybrid (HEV) models. This provides a more accurate view of the market’s performance. Other countries rely on the full and mild-hybrid figures to boost electrified vehicle growth. But in the UK, mild hybrids help to offset internal-combustion engine (ICE) losses.
So, the UK’s electrified market consists of models that can run only on electric power for a period of time. However, with lower hybrid figures, the UK relies on EVs, including BEVs and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), to bolster growth.
In recent months, BEV and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) deliveries have helped overcome declines in petrol, diesel and HEV figures. All-electric models are the second-most-popular powertrain in the UK at preset, while PHEVs have been rivalling HEVs in terms of volumes.
Yet this makes the UK’s new-car market very precarious. Should one powertrain slow, or faulter, it can push the entire market into decline. This is what happened in November. While HEVs had a slow month, so too did the BEV sector, which suffered its lowest growth rate in two years, according to the SMMT.
BEVs struggle in November
In total, 39,965 BEVs were registered in November. This was a 3.6% improvement on the volume of 12 months prior, equating to an extra 1,384 units. This was the third time in 2025 that the powertrain registered single-digit growth.
However, the technology did secure a 26.4% share of the market, its second-highest of the year. This was 1.3 percentage points (pp) more than secured in November 2024. Yet this was also the lowest improvement of the year so far.
Between January and November, 426,209 BEVs were delivered to customers, an improvement of 26%. The technology’s market share sat at 22.7%, a rise of 4pp. This will be concerning to the automotive market in the UK, with the figure far below the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate target of 28% for the year.
What caused the BEV slowdown?
The slow growth in November came despite the UK government creating an incentive package in July, aimed at increasing BEV uptake. Instead, the announcement that EVs, both BEV and PHEV, would be subject to pay-per-mile charging from 2028, could hamper the market.
November 2025 has come up against a strong period of comparison. At the end of 2024, carmakers were rushing to deliver BEVs, in order to meet the ZEV mandated target of a 22% market share.
November 2024 saw BEV deliveries improve 58.4%. It was the powertrain’s biggest improvement of the year, and was followed by a 56.8% rise in December. However, with some of the financial penalties for missing mandated targets relaxed, and more flexibility in borrowing against future sales, there seems to be less of a push by carmakers to pull forward BEV deliveries.
It is unlikely that the announcement in the Budget impacted November figures. Even if the early media reports broke the pay-per-mile plans three weeks before, many sales would have taken place beforehand.
Will pay-per-mile cause an impact?
But the UK market could start to see an impact from the pay-per-mile plans in the coming months. BEV adoption is on a knife-edge, and with 2025 seeing the technology eligible for Vehicle Duty and the Expensive Car Supplement, their financial benefits are waning.
And with the BEV market proving crucial for helping the UK maintain registrations growth, the market may be entering a period of uncertainty. This would be coming at the wrong time, with ZEV mandate targets only getting higher, and the ban on new petrol and diesel cars looming.
‘Even in a fragile market, zero-emission vehicle uptake continues to rise, which is exactly what we need. 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,’ commented SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
‘We should be taking every opportunity to encourage drivers to make the switch, not punishing them for doing so, else the ambitions of government and industry will be thwarted,’ he continued
PHEVs provide EV boost
While BEVs slowed, PHEVs were the best-performing powertrain, in terms of volume growth. In total, 18,005 units were delivered, a rise of 14.8%. This equated to 2,318 more units compared to November 2024.
PHEVs secured 11.9% of the market in the month, a rise of 1.7pp. Since April, the technology has been consistently held between 11% and 12% of total monthly registrations, as it pushes to match the figures of HEVs.
In the first 11 months of the year, PHEVs have outperformed all other powertrains, with a registrations increase of 34.18%. This equates to a total of 208,245 units, and an 11.1% market share. The technology has improved its hold by 2.6pp, second only to BEVs when it comes to share growth.
Combining BEVs and PHEVs, the EV market reached 57,970 deliveries in November, a 6.8% year-on-year rise. This was the lowest volume increase of 2025, and the first time this year the EV market has seen only a single-digit improvement.
The result provided a 38.4% hold of total registrations, up by just 3.1pp. After 11 months of 2025, EVs have seen improvement of 28.8%, with 634,454 new cars taking to UK roads. This was enough for a 33.9% share, up 6.7pp.
Electrified market dominates
The UK’s HEV market is experiencing a rollercoaster year. Apart from the plate-change months of March and September, any growth has been in single digits, while there have also been four months of decline.
November saw the lowest growth of the year, with just 1.3% more HEVs delivered to customers. This equated to a 19,836-unit total, just 245 units more than the same month in 2024. The powertrain took a 13.1% share of the market, up 0.3pp.
The UK figures highlight the impact of mild-hybrids on other major European markets. While many have seen their overall hybrid registrations dominate monthly deliveries, the UK’s HEV sector lags behind both petrol and BEV sales, and is under threat from PHEV volumes.
However, when added to EV figures, the electrified market is leading in the UK. With 77,806 registrations in November, figures were up 5.3%. The technology held 51.5% of the total market volume, a dominant position, and a rise of 3.4pp.
In the first 11 months of 2025, the electrified market is not so dominant. It still lags behind the ICE market, and is unlikely to overtake it in 2025. In total, 896,209 units have been delivered, a 21.7% year-on-year improvement. Their market share sat at 47.8% by the end of November, a 7.2pp rise, but 4.4pp away from ICE.
To overtake for the full year, the electrified market would need to overcome a deficit of 81,853 units to petrol and diesel models. In November, the technology registered just 4,458 more passenger cars than ICE models.
HEVs have played their part in this electrified growth over the year. By the end of November, 261,755 units had been delivered, a 7.5% improvement. This gave the technology a 14% share of the market, a small 0.6pp rise compared to the same period last year.
Petrol remains leading powertrain
Petrol and diesel registrations, including mild-hybrid powertrains, continued to decline in November. The regular drops in unit volume suggest that electrified models will overtake ICE, and should current trends continue, this will occur in 2026.
Last month, petrol volumes fell by 5.9%, to 66,180 units. This was still enough for a 43.8% market share, a drop of just 2pp year on year. Diesel, meanwhile, struggled again, with a 24% decline. The 7,168-unit volume was enough for just 4.7% of the overall market, down from 6.1% a year prior.
Between January and November, petrol remained the dominant standalone fuel type, by some margin. While its 880,331 units was down 8.3% compared to the same period in 2024, its 47% market share was 24.3pp higher than its nearest competitor, BEVs. Yet this hold was still down on the 53% achieved in the first 11 months of last year.
Diesel struggles continue
For diesel, it has been cut adrift at the bottom of the UK new-car market. With 97,731 registrations, the powertrain will likely only just make it to six figures in 2025. By the end of November, volumes were down 15.8%, while its market share of 5.2% was 1.2pp lower than the same time last year.
Combined, the ICE market achieved 73,348 deliveries in November, an 8% decline year on year. With 48.5% of the market, it lost its dominance for the third month in succession.
Across the first 11 months of 2025, 978,062 ICE models were registered, a 9.1% decline. However, thanks to an eight-month period of dominance in monthly figures, it still led the market, with a 52.2% share. This was, however, down by 7.2pp.
With the regular dominance of ICE now at an end, it appears 2026 will start with electrified models leading the annual figures for the first time. However, unlike other major European markets, this side of the new-car sector is much more diverse.
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