Around the start of each month, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) releases its figures for car registrations for the past month and regardless of how the data presents itself, some members of the media will always find a way to paint it in some bad shape. For example, in September 2024, diesel registrations were down by 7.1% compared to September 2023, as were petrol by 9.3.%. However, the registrations of electric cars were up by 24.4%. For last month at least, this now makes up 20.5% of the market.

The data SMMT provides is everything in combination, this means private, fleet and business. However, what most of the stories have focused on, is the private demand for diesel cars. SMMT say that consumer demand specifically for diesel cars grew by 17.1% in September. This is the line that has been picked up by respected automotive outlets and the mainstream media. However, as we know less people are actually purchasing cars. Statistics reveal that over 1.6 million people in the UK now lease a car, which is data coming from 2021 and this is very likely to be a lot higher now.

When we look at the year in total, diesel dropped by 12%, compared to this time in 2023. Petrol remained steady with a drop of 0.8% and EVs jumped up by 13.2%. In fact, September 2024 was the highest ever month for numbers for EVs, with 56,387 registered.

SMMT even mention even in the same paragraph that fleet companies drove much of this growth, with a rise of 36.8%. The very important missing piece of the reporting is that, while more consumers in the UK are leasing cars, these will always show up as fleet registrations and data is very likely to be construed.

Source: SMMT