New car registrations were stable in October 2025, with numbers that were on par with the same month dating back to about 2018 (excluding the Covid-affected years of 2021/2022).
According to registration data published this morning by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), private sales were up 2% compared to the same month last year, while fleet registrations were down about the same, meaning the overall result was a mere 0.5% increase on last October.
EVs and hybrids continue sales surge
Although the headline numbers were flat, the make-up of cars sold continues to shift from purely fossil-fuelled vehicles to EVs and hybrids.
Petrol-powered car sales fell by 12%, while diesel cars have become little more than a footnote in new car data. Petrol cars are still comfortably the largest type of new car sold, but their market share fell from 51% to 44%. Electric cars made up 25% of the market, growing by 24% compared to last year, while plug-in hybrids continued their strong growth over the last 12 months and regular hybrids also grew slightly.
Officially, a market share of 25% in October, and 22% year-to-date, means that EV sales are still behind the government’s mandated target of 28% for this year. However, by the time that various loopholes and provisions are taken into consideration, the net target is estimated to be about 23%, so the industry is on track to hit that by the end of the year.
The targets go up to 33% next year, so car manufacturers will have no interest in over-achieving this year. Most of them are already managing their inventories for the rest of the year to ensure they hit their 2025 targets and carry over any extras into January.
Good month, bad month
Despite overall registration numbers being similar to those of last year, there was considerable movement among the different car manufacturers.
It was a good month for Alfa Romeo, Alpine, BYD, Cupra, Dacia, KGM, Omoda, Polestar, Renault, Suzuki and Vauxhall. All of these brands outperformed the overall market by at least 10%.
Meanwhile, numbers were down at Abarth, Bentley, BMW, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Genesis, GWM, Honda, Hyundai, Ineos, Jeep, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Peugeot, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
That means that the following manufacturers were about where you’d expect them to be: Audi, Ford, Land Rover, Maserati, Mini, Nissan and Smart – all of whom were +/-10% on the same month last year.
As usual, Volkswagen was comfortably the best-selling brand in the UK in October, increasing its market share despite sales being slightly down. Audi, Ford, BMW and Kia were next, none of which is a great surprise.
The two big Chinese manufacturers, BYD and Chery Group (Chery, Jaecoo, Omoda), continue to make strong inroads into the market, putting ever-increasing pressure on struggling European and Japanese brands. It’s almost certain that 2026 will see this pressure reach breaking point for some brands within the industry, as there is still plenty more growth to come from the current batch of Chinese brands and others on the way.
Ford Puma edges closer to retaining sales crown
The Ford Puma was again the UK’s best-selling car in October, outselling the Kia Sportage – its main rival in the 2025 sales race – by about 1,000 units. That gives the Puma a formidable lead with just two months to go, although we have seen large swings in the last couple of months in recent years so Ford won’t be celebrating just yet (and Kia has an updated Sportage now in showrooms).
UK manufacturing enjoyed three cars in the top ten, courtesy of the Mini Cooper, Nissan Juke and Nissan Qashqai. The Jaecoo 7 remained in the best-sellers list for a second month, while the Audi A3 also popped up for one of its reasonably rare appearances.
We’ll have our usual look at the top ten in the coming days.
