UK: Plug-In Car Sales Surge To New Record In September 2021

The Tesla Model 3 was the most registered car during the month, regardless of powertrain.

By: Mark Kane

Oct 6, 2021 at 8:29am ET

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The passenger car market in the UK noted its weakest September since 1998 with 215,312 new registrations (down over 34% year-over-year). Supply issues caused by semiconductor shortages have significantly affected car sales.

The brightest star of the show is battery-electric cars, which noted a record month (32,721 units and 15.2% market share), which allowed for setting a new all-time record also for all plug-ins - 46,605 (up 36% year-over-year).

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) notes that the plug-in market share improved to 21.7% (on of the highest result ever).

Plug-in electric car registrations in the UK – September 2021

BEVs: 32,721 (up 49% year-over-year) at market share of 15.2%
PHEVs: 13,884 (up 12% year-over-year) at market share of 6.4%
Total: 46,605 (up 36% year-over-year) at market share of 21.7%

So far this year, more than 212,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in the UK, reaching an average market share of 16%.

Sales YTD:

BEVs: 125,141 (up 88% year-over-year) - market share of 9.5%
PHEVs: 87,040 (up 105% year-over-year)- market share of 6.6%
Total: 212,181 (up 95% year-over-year) - market share of 16.1%

More details, including also other types:

Top models

The Tesla Model 3 happened to be the most registered model in September (6,879), which already happened a few times before, usually in the last month of a quarter when the manufacturer delivers its cars.

Despite those successes, the Model 3 is not yet able to enter the top 10 year-to-date. We estimate that the Model 3 is not far behind, with at least 18,932 units sold so far this year (6,585 in March, 5,468 in June and 6,879 in Septemer).

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Unfortunately, the SMMT does not provide ranking for plug-ins so we can't extract more data right now.

Kia reports that during the first nine months has sold 10,063 all-electric cars (Niro EV and Soul EV). In Q4, the company will start deliveries of the EV6.