The number of vehicles registered in February in the UK grew by 26% to 74,441 according to new data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Although typically a quiet month for registrations, February 2023 has marked the seventh month of consecutive growth for the car market, with electric vehicles taking 16.1% of the market share. With 12,310 registered in February 2023, electric cars now account for one in six new UK car registrations.

Most notably, the Tesla Model Y makes the ‘February 2023 best sellers’ list, coming in at number six. This is despite February not being a shipment month for Tesla, and could suggest the company has been registering stock to meet quarterly targets. This is backed up by promotional emails to prospective customers in the past two weeks.

The latest statistics also show an increase in demand for minis and superminis among all fuel types, suggesting buyers are shifting to smaller, cheaper models.

Founder and CEO of Electrifying.com Ginny Buckley said: “Electric car registrations are holding strong in the current climate. Perhaps the most interesting take away from February’s stats is that demand for smaller, more affordable cars is there, but we need car manufacturers to keep pace with this trend in their electric offerings; at the moment there are just five electric cars available which are priced under £30,000.

“Not only this, we’re also still in desperate need of a public charging infrastructure that’s reliable, plentiful and fairly priced. Once this is addressed, drivers will feel confident to choose models with smaller, more affordable and sustainable batteries which will in turn encourage car makers to focus their efforts on this end of the market.”

The Corsa was the best seller, boosting figures for smaller models