New Fleet Registrations Push Rise In UK Vehicle Production Numbers

The UK vehicle market grew again in February, representing the sixth consecutive month of growth in vehicle production.

The 14.6% increase marks the best February performance since 2021, with the domestic market rising by 58%, which is good news for the market in the UK overall.

Fleet registrations helped that figure significantly, with fleets investing in new vehicles and technology in recent months.

Export figures also grew, albeit more modestly at 4.6%.

What Does It Mean For Fleets?

Fleet and business registrations are driving the entire vehicle market currently, with the outlook looking incredibly promising.

Fleet registrations have held a 57% market share over the last year, which means more fleet vehicles are being registered than private vehicles as an ongoing trend.

The fleet and company car market totalled 1,085,381 registrations in 2023, a 36.4% rise from the 795,553 in 2022, while the market share of 57% has also jumped from 49.3% last year.

The bigger picture around electric vehicles (including battery electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles) remains largely the same, with around one-third of all vehicles produced being electric (36.3%).

EVs are becoming increasingly popular but concerns are often raised around infrastructure and whether or not it's a viable option for fleets putting in significant miles…

So, the question is when do you make the switch? And it is viable for you right now?

What About The EV Market?

While a study found that three-quarters of fleets are postponing their plans to go electric because of rising costs, there is still a growing market for EVs.

The rising cost of living coupled with an increase in the cost of switching out their entire fleet to electric vehicles (EVs) has led to many putting off their plans… but that doesn’t mean that the market is stagnant.

Growth hasn’t materialised as quickly as some experts predicted in the EV sector, especially with the announcement last year about the postponement of the internal combustion engine (ICE) ban to 2035.

For many manufacturers, though, that change is immaterial – they have launched new EV models and set plans in motion to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid models.

Rising costs for fleets have made considerations around new vehicle procurement more important than ever, which shows just how positive the rise in fleet registrations has been in recent months.

Sixth months of consecutive growth is great news for the UK’s vehicle production market as well as the fleet sector, showing that growth isn’t a temporary thing and there are reasons to be positive.

The vehicle market is a difficult one to stimulate additional growth in, particularly as rising costs play a role in both private and fleet purchases. However, incentivising EVs and uptake on new vehicles could prove to be effective in the coming months.

Where are you in your vehicle replacement cycle? Have you gone electric yet? Have rising costs affected your vehicle replacement cycle? Let us know in the comments below…