RE: Valhalla first delivery in Germany6 Jan 2026 08:51
From the article linked below....
Sales of new cars in the UK topped 2mn for the first time since before the pandemic as BYD and other Chinese brands increased their share in Europe’s second-largest electric vehicle market. Some 2.02mn cars were registered in Britain last year, up 3.5 per cent from 2024 and compared with 2.31mn sales in 2019, according to annual figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders on Tuesday.
“It’s obviously not a full recovery,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes. “If you strip out the Chinese brands, there wouldn’t have been growth in the market.”
The return to pre-Covid annual sales of 2mn cars was mainly driven by the rise in demand for electric vehicles, which accounted for 23 per cent of the UK market.
The rapid rise of Chinese brands has contributed to the sharp increase in EVs and plug-in hybrid sales — they increased their share of the UK’s EV market to 12.8 per cent last year, compared with 8.5 per cent in 2024.