Things are looking up for the UK car market after official figures showed sales grew for the second consecutive month in June, with registrations up 6.7% to 191,316 units, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). But the big news is the rise in electrified car sales, with registrations of vehicles with plugs rising strongly.
Pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) jumped 39.1% to 47,354 units, equivalent to a quarter (24.8%) of the market, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) grew 28.8% to 21,382 units. The market for new hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), meanwhile, fell by -8.5% to 23,835 registrations.
Overall it was the best June since 2019, helping lift first half the 3.5% above the same period last year.
Private buyer demand, rather than business purchases, grew 5.9% to 71,616 units but still accounted for just less than four in 10 new cars registered (37.4%). Business registrations fell -15.8% to 4,859 units.
New petrol registrations declined -4.2% and diesel volumes were flat (+0.2%), meaning their combined share of the market is now just over half (51.6%).
Across the first six months of 2025 new BEV registrations have risen 34.6% to 224,841 units but, at 21.6% market share, they remain significantly behind the 28% mandated for this year.
Tesla has seemingly bounced back in June, with 7,719 registrations, up 14.2% on the same month in 2024. It meant that the Model Y was the third best selling car for the month and the Model 3 was sixth. Overall sales for 2025 so far are still down 1.34% however.
The new Chinese brands are generally growing fast too, with BYD taking a 2.4% market share in June, beating brands like MINI, Dacia and Mazda. OMODA is getting a decent footing too, with a 0.7% share, just behind Suzuki. MG has bounced back too after a slow start to the year.
Some companies look to be struggling however, notably Citroen whose sales have shrunk 40.7% this year.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “A second consecutive month of growth for the new car market is good news, as is the positive performance of EVs. That EV growth, however, is still being driven by substantial industry support with manufacturers using every channel and unsustainable discounting to drive activity, yet it remains below mandated levels. As we have seen in other countries, government incentives can supercharge the market transition, without which the climate change ambitions we all share will be under threat.”
Ginny Buckley, the chief executive of Electrifying, said: “These figures highlight the increasing choice of new EVs available to car buyers, at ever more affordable prices. We’ve seen some remarkable deals on new models from some legacy car makers—who, in the race to electrify, are at risk of being left behind.
“Tesla has also gained a boost from the start of customer deliveries of the refreshed Model Y. Yet, interestingly, Electrifying.com research from January 2024, based on a survey of over 1,000 EV buyers, found that 59% of respondents said Elon Musk is putting them off buying a Tesla - it will be interesting to see how the brands sales pan out over the rest of the year.”
Kia's market share in June was only just behind Ford 
