EV Share Of Sales Slump In 2023
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
Britain’s car market has shrunk permanently since the pandemic as the rise of home working and shift towards net zero hammers sales, industry chiefs have said.
Sales of new cars in the UK hit 1.9m in 2023, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said, a jump of 17.9pc compared with a year ago but still 17.7pc lower than before Covid hit.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said a combination of economic and social changes meant families were less likely to want multiple cars in their driveways today.
These included the rise of remote working, government policies aimed at making transport greener and the shrinking availability of lower-priced, entry level cars, as manufacturers focus on bigger, more profitable SUV models instead.
As a result, Mr Hawes said he did not expect new car sales to ever return to their pre-pandemic peak of 2.69 million per year, a record previously reached in 2016.
He said: “You’re seeing people changing their work patterns, more investment in public transport, and all of this is part of decarbonisation which we support.
“If people are working from home, does each household need as many cars as they may formerly have had? Things like that, there’s a number of different factors behind it.
“There’s still room for growth. But I can’t see us repeating that 2.6 million figure ever again.”
His comments came as the SMMT revealed the market share of electric cars went into reverse in 2023, as consumers baulked at high prices and a lack of charging infrastructure.
The lobby group is now urging Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, to jump-start demand by slashing VAT on electric car purchases for three years in his next Budget, due on March 6.
This would boost consumer spending power by £7.7bn and result in an extra 250,000 cars being bought by households, the SMMT said.
Electric vehicles’ (EVs) share of the overall new car market shrunk from 16.6pc to 16.5pc in 2023. This compares with the 17.2pc originally forecast by the SMMT.
The number of EVs sold rose by almost 50,000 to 315,000 in 2023 – but this also fell short of the SMMT’s prediction of 324,000 for the year.
Petrol car sales were flat at about 1m.
Mr Hawes blamed the EV malaise on stubbornly-high prices and warned that Rishi Sunak’s speech on net zero policies in September, which saw him delay a ban on new petrol car sales, was also not “particularly helpful”.
He added: “We need to be encouraging, promoting [EV uptake] as much as we can.”
I can’t do better than this comment from Ian:
What I find incredible here is that this man – Mike Hawes – seems to think that his support for the net zero “transition” overrides his responsibilities to support the members of the trade group he leads. Just what does he think he is employed to do? Doesn’t he realise that as the great majority of manufacturing and trading of vehicles revolves around ICE vehicles, he should be supporting the interests of those members that handle ICE business first and foremost and not prioritising the needs of pure-BEV makers such as the Chinese importers?
The bigger issue revealed here is that the market for car sales is not buoyant, which is not good news for the members of the trade body that he leads.
He should stick to the day job.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Just a few hours after GB News declared the following:
‘One in five new cars registered in the UK are now electric, according to new data, as the Government launches major new EV rules.
New research suggests that electric car sales continued to increase in 2023, despite a slowdown from manufacturers in the final two months of the year.’
So GB News got the news wrong – again. 16% is not 1 in 5.
Cant trust any broadcast media. GB News started well but has faded away as its elitist backers neuter its early attempts to criticise the establishment.
Absolutely right Paul. Instead of demanding an additional subsidy for EVs via a VAT cut, they should help government understand why sales of small ICE cars are falling: manufacturers, faced with penalties for producing too many ICE cars, are of course cutting the least profitable models in their ranges, making Rishi Sunak’s claim of helping lower income households by delaying the sales ban until 2035 look rather hollow.
Nobody that I know would consider buying an EV. Mind you they are more intelligent than the government or the woke greens promotong EVs.
Climate stripes need new colour as world warms. The iconic stripes show the change in average global temperatures since 1850
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72y
Sorry link doesn’t work this is it
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72yrd8y9pwo
Another climate misrepresentation. They fit the entire colour range across a tiny average temperature increase range.
If they’re using that full colour range to the full temperature range from the coldest to the hottest temperatures on earth then that’d be fair, but of course they’re not.
Instead the average temperature increase would be put into disappointing context when compared to Earth’s highest to lowest absolute temperatures, with the result being ‘stripes’ of several pale colours which wouldn’t be as eye-catching or pretty as the stronger contrasting red-blue colour stripes!
In short, it wouldn’t scare anyone.
They’re also subjectively applying the colour range to temperatures to suit their agenda. Those colours aren’t internationally or scientifically agreed alignments with temperature scales, they’re the make-it-up-as-you-go-along fantasy brainchild of the inventor.
Pure sophistry.
“The stripes show the change in average annual global temperatures since 1850, with red indicating hotter years and blue cooler ones against the average of the period 1971-2000.”
Oh, sure, they have the average global temperature of 1850. And 1851. And they are f(*king liars.
Unfortunately, ” … make-it-up-as-you-go-along … ” is typical of believers.
“It’s a sign ! “
Meanwhile, and regardless of CO2, public transport is a shambles. Buses are non-existent in most communities, National Rail is expensive and unreliable while TfL is surely ‘avin’ a laugh?
“Mike Hawes – seems to think that his support for the net zero “transition” overrides his responsibilities to support the members of the trade group he leads”
Yet another person in a position of influence who’s clearly been “Got At” by the WEF cabal…
After more than a century of attempts at State command and control of the market economy all of which have ended in failure, the notion that ‘this time’ it will work persists.
“ As a result, Mr Hawes said he did not expect new car sales to ever return to their pre-pandemic peak…”
And that other perennial error, assuming that the short term situation is the established norm, and can be extrapolated, plotted on a straight line into the future and nothing will change, despite all such past prognostication being wrong by quite some margin.
Am I missing the data broken out on the private sales of EVs as opposed to the fleet and business sales? When the fleet buyers come to (try) selling these into the second hand market they will find themselves with considerable problems on their balance sheets.
Certainly will, BEVs second hand are a liability rather than an asset. I cannot see many private buyers taking a chance on a 3 year old BEV, particularly if they have a reliable ICE. Most private buyers will just postpone getting a newer car and see what happens.
” I cannot see many private buyers taking a chance on a 3 year old BEV, ”
Au contraire, there’s quite a scramble going on for some models, esp Audis, where the EV is the same price or cheaper than its ICE equivalent:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=247&t=2042333
For those buyers whose use-case suits an EV, they are a good deal: still plenty of battery warranty; super-low running costs (with home charging on an EV tariff), etc.
Which is why sensible companies don’t purchase company cars , and thus have them as assets on their balance sheets, and lease them instead.
It’s already happening. Prices of used EVs have fallen through the floor over the past 6 – 9 months. Things are unlikely to improve soon given the big ramp-up in sales which started 3 or 4 years ago which will carry on flooding the market.
Electric Cars?
Here is your ‘Green’ Colonialist, metropolitan-elite, energy —
This is a Lithium leach field.
This is what your Electric car batteries are made of. It is so neuro-toxic that a bird landing on this stuff dies in minutes.
Take a guess what it does to your nervous system?
Pat yourself on the back for saving the environment.
The Full Horror here —
The original meaning of a gift of a White Elephant is appropriate.
A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, scheme, business venture, facility, etc. considered expensive but without equivalent utility or value relative to its capital (acquisition) and/or operational (maintenance) costs. {from the Wikipedia page for White_elephant }
Interesting reading besides being relevant to EVs.
working from home –> WFH
I guess.
“…more investment in public transport”? Really? Where?
” The lobby group is now urging Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, to jump-start demand by slashing VAT on electric car purchases for three years in his next Budget, due on March 6.
This would boost consumer spending power by £7.7bn and result in an extra 250,000 cars being bought by households, the SMMT said.” Really? It isn’t households that are buying EVs. It’s companies seeking to wave their green flags. Households can’t afford their electricity bills as it is, let alone with a budding bonfire plugged in.
If I was a manufacturer about to be fined for not selling enough EVs I would simply pull out of the UK altogether and sell my cars in other countries. Our “own” (Indian) Jaguar-Land Rover are going to have big problems.
Meanwhile, how many ministerial and other government cars are now EVs?
Precisely. We have had an LPG for years. No fuel anywhere now. Folk were told to get diesels back in the day and got suckered. We are maintaining our two petrols to keep them running as long as they can. They will be killed off too. Along with all cars. Can’t afford and don’t want an EV. Or trust they won’t be vastly expensive totems to a failed god.
So much for democracy. Who would ever believe that manufacturers will be punished for failing to meet arbitrary goals set by uninformed civil servants.
‘His comments came as the SMMT revealed the market share of electric cars went into reverse in 2023, as consumers baulked at high prices and a lack of charging infrastructure.’
Oh, yeah, UK used to have attractively priced EVs and lots of charging infrastructure.