Booming uk electric vehicle sales6 Jan 2022 19:25
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In its annual sales snapshot for 2021, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said carmakers sold 190,000 battery electric cars across the country last year, accounting for about 11.6% of total sales.
Reflecting growing appetite for greener vehicles, sales rose from 108,000 in 2020, when battery-powered cars accounted for just 6.6% of new cars bought in Britain. In December 2021 alone, electric cars made up 26% of sales, a record for a single month when physical dealerships were allowed to open during the Covid pandemic.
Against a backdrop of global supply chain disruption and shortages of crucial semiconductor chips, overall UK car industry sales for the year were up just 1% from 2020 levels to 1.65m, and remained almost a third below total sales in 2019.
However, sales of battery electric vehicles were a bright spot for the industry, the SMMT said, as Britons bought more electric cars in 2021 than in the previous five years combined.
Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive, said thelack of microchips used in everything from windscreen wipers to in-car entertainment systems would continue to serve as a drag on the car industry during 2022.
“[It] will undermine the market for the rest of the year,” he said.
“We think demand is still there, demand is still strong,” Hawes told reporters. “The challenge is how to supply to customers.”
Some manufacturers have managed to cope with the disruption better than others. Tesla was the standout electric performer, with its Model 3 becoming the first electric car to rank among the top 10 marques for overall sales. After reporting record deliveries this week, Tesla’s market value has surged in recent days to $1.2tn (£883bn) – more than the next 10 carmakers combined, according to data company Sentieo.
The Model 3 was beaten to the UK top spot by Vauxhall’s Corsa, which also meant that Ford’s Fiesta lost its title as the bestseller for the first time in 12 years.
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