2024-01-05 10:21:11
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 13 minutes ago, Updated now
“Bernadett Vejkey, marketing manager at start-up Addionics, holds a porous, three-dimensional copper anode sheet, developed for electric vehicle batteries, in London, December 5, 2023.” NICK CAREY / REUTERS
The British automotive market grew last year but is expected to remain permanently below its level before the Covid-19 pandemic, due in particular to teleworking and the energy transition, according to the sector organization SMMT. The number of new vehicle registrations increased by around 17.9% last year, to 1.9 million new vehicles, according to preliminary figures from the SMMT. What organization director Mike Hawes called “very positive“, particularly with regard to the “relatively negative economic context».
The year-on-year increase mainly comes from corporate vehicle fleets (+38.7%) compared to 2022 marked by a disrupted supply chain and deliveries. Conversely, vehicles purchased by individuals stagnated at 818,000 units, which Mike Hawes attributes to rising costs of living and interest rates.
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Lack of financial incentives
Despite the increase in new registrations over one year, the market remains 17.7% below its pre-pandemic level. Mike Hawes does not expect demand for new cars to return to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon, due to the rise in remote working which reduces the need for transportation to get to work for a lot of British people. Furthermore, the number of electric cars reached a record level last year at 315,000 units but their market share fell to 16.5% last year compared to 16.6% in 2022. The SMMT calls the government to halve the 10% VAT on new electric vehicles for individuals for the next three years to try to boost sales.
Mike Hawes argues that the market share of new electric vehicles in the UK is “probably in the lower half of Europe“, and lagging behind countries like France, Germany, Ireland and Portugal, which he says is due to a lack of financial incentives. For this year, the SMMT anticipates a meager increase of around 3% in the number of new vehicles registered in the United Kingdom to 1.97 million. In Germany, the German automobile market saw its overall registrations increase in 2023, but the dynamic of electrified vehicles, very strong in 2022, slowed down significantly In the United States, sales of new vehicles benefited from strong demand in 2023 , thanks in particular to attractive commercial offers, but remain below pre-pandemic levels and should remain so this year.
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