With 2025 new vehicle registrations in, we can have a look at the highlights and dig into some of the data.

Overall, new car registrations were up 3.5% year on year, showing an increase in demand, and below we analyse which fuel types gained momentum and which lost some traction.

The Highlights

Petrol registrations have declined 8.0% over the year and now hold a 46.4% market share, down from a previous market share of 52.19% at the end of 2024.

Diesel registrations have declined 15.6% over the last year and now hold a 5.1% market share, down from 6.3% at the end of 2024.

Hybrid registrations have increased their market share by 7.2%, up from 13.39% market share to 13.9%.

Plug-in hybrids have also increased their market share by a huge 34.7%, up from 8.56% in 2024 to 11.14% in 2025 and catching up to hybrids.

Battery electric cars also did very well increasing their market share by 23.9%, up from 19.56% in 2024 to 23.43% in 2025, still below the ZEV mandate of 28%, but potentially a target hit when flexibilities are included.

2025 seems to be the turning point with a shift in sentiment towards alternative fuel types with nearly half of all new cars registered in the U.K (48.44% to be exact) being electrified in one form or another with expectations that electrified vehicles combined will exceed 50% market share in 2026. 

December 2025

December saw some big shifts with diesel registrations down 12.5% vs December 2024. Petrol registrations showed a modest decline of 3%, but electric cars captured 32.2% market share and both hybrids (12.6%) and plug-in hybrids (11.6%) captured 24.2% market share combined.

However, given that December is the end of the year for the 28% ZEV mandate, caution must be applied to what looks like a stellar performance for electrified vehicles, capturing 56.4% of the market share combined as there is potential that manufacturers pre-registered cars in the last month to reach that ZEV target with flexibilities. The SMMT hasn’t yet published its pre-registered car data for December 2025, so we can’t say with certainty if this is the case when compared with other months. 

You can read more about the ZEV mandate and flexibilities here.

Summary

The car industry seems buoyant with signs of steady growth but with the preferences shifting more towards alternative fulled cars which is more evident in the latter part of the year. But with the ZEV mandate rising to 33% in 2026, will we see bigger shifts towards electric cars?