January new car sales: winners and losers

January saw a polarised start to the year with fleet sales driving the performance of many brands.

Tesla got off to a strong start in January with sales up 173% to 1,581 units followed by Subaru which saw sales surge 74% to193 units.

Peugeot performed strongly up 63.4% to 6,033 cars registered while Vauxhall saw growth of 58.6% to 8,328 units.

The two brands showing the biggest growth were Abarth and smart, up 536.4% and 332.4% to hit 70 and 147 units respectively.

At the other end of the tale Polestar saw registrations down -74.2% for the month followed by DS, down 57.5% to 108 units, Genesis down 48.8% to 62, Maserati down 43.5% to 52 and Fiat -37.8% to 1,097 units. The full table is listed below for all brands.

The first month of the year saw 142,876 new cars registered, up 8.2% year on year.

The increase was driven entirely by the fleet market, which rose by 29.9%, while private retail uptake fell -15.8%.

Fleets accounted for more than six in 10 (63.2%) new cars registered, up from just over half (52.7%) last year.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said the market was driven by fleet and retail buyers needed an incentive to buy EVs.

“It’s taken just over 20 years to reach our million EV milestone – but with the right policies, we can double down on that success in just another two.

“Market growth is currently dependent on businesses and fleets. Government must therefore use the upcoming Budget to support private EV buyers, temporarily halving VAT to cut carbon, drive economic growth and help everyone make the switch.

“Manufacturers have been asked to supply the vehicles, we now ask government to help consumers buy the vehicles on which net zero depends.”

January New Car Registrations by Brand