News Published on : 06-Jun-2022 16:13:14

The number of vehicles in the UK grew 0.4% to 40 506 971 in 2021 according to new Motorparc data released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) with more plug-in electric cars vans trucks and buses put on Britain s roads amid highly challenging pandemic and economic conditions. Despite the increase in the parc major shortages of key components and supply chain disruptions across the globe caused new car registrations to remain broadly static at 1.65 million with car ownership falling -0.2% to 35 023 652 vehicles - the second year in a row the car parc has fallen and the first time the UK has experienced consecutive falls in more than a century. While this is in part thanks to more advanced technology and the greater reliability of new vehicles the main driver has been pandemic-related market issues. Global shortages of key components - most notably semiconductors - have constrained the new car market and the lockdowns of the past two years closed dealerships meaning consumers were less able to buy new cars instead holding on to their vehicles. This contributed to the average car age reaching a record high of 8.7 years more than a year older than that a decade ago. This means around 8.4 million cars - just under a quarter of those on the road - today are more than 13 years old having been in service since 2008. Electric vehicle ownership continues to grow rapidly as billions of pounds of automotive industry investment in zero-emission cars vans trucks buses and coaches delivers an ever-growing choice of models.4 Nearly three quarters of a million vehicles on the road today can be plugged in including 720 053 cars 26 990 vans 993 buses and 313 trucks.5 While electric car uptake is growing rapidly accounting for around one in five new registrations plug-ins still only represent around one in 50 cars on the road demonstrating the scale of the challenge ahead in convincing every driver to make the switch. Meanwhile there are some 20.5 million petrol cars and 13 million diesels making up 58.6% and 37.1% of the car parc respectively a combined total of 95.7%.