The popularity of alternatively-fuelled vehicles among British drivers has continued to grow, with October seeing a 30.7 per cent rise in AFV sales in figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
This positivity was bolstered by 86.9 per cent more people driving home a battery-powered vehicle compared to October last year – with hybrid and plug-in hybrid sales up by 31 per cent and 19.1 per cent respectively.
Even though British drivers are moving towards more sustainably-fuelled options, the government has surprisingly cut its plug-in car grant for electric options and removed it altogether for plug-in hybrids. However, the effect of this won’t be seen for a few months.
Under new industry forecasts also released today, the SMMT expects AFV sales to increase by 82.5 per cent by 2020 compared to 2017 sales – with an 88.3 per cent growth expected to be seen on battery-powered options.
As people move away from diesel vehicles – which saw a year-on-year decline of 21.3 per cent – petrol car sales have also increased, with October seeing a 7.1 per cent rise in interest.
Despite the positives for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, the car market saw a sales decline of 2.9 per cent in October compared to the same month in 2017 – with overall figures for the year-to-date down by 7.2 per cent.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “VED upheaval, regulatory changes and confusion over diesel have all made their mark on the market this year so it’s good to see plug-in registrations buck the trend. Demand is still far from the levels needed to offset losses elsewhere, however, and is making government’s decision to remove purchase incentives even more baffling.
“We’ve always said that world-class ambitions require world-class incentives and, even before the cuts to the grant, those ambitions were challenging. We need policies that encourage rather than confuse. Government’s forthcoming review of WLTP’s impact on taxation must ensure that buyers of the latest, cleanest cars are not unfairly penalised else we will see older, more polluting cars remain on the road for longer."
The Ford Fiesta continued to lead sales with 5,564 units sold in October. The Volkswagen Golf (3,765) and Mercedes A-Class (3,339) were second and third in the list.
