UK new car registrations rose 24% in April 2026. BEV share hit 26.2%
SMMT registered 149,247 new passenger cars in April 2026, a 24.0% jump on April 2025's 120,331 units and the best April since 2019 (SMMT, May 2026). Part of the gain is a rebound from an unusually weak April 2025, when buyers had pulled purchases into March to beat vehicle tax changes. The headline-grabbing figure was the BEV mix: 39,084 battery-electric registrations (+59.1% YoY) took 26.2% of the month. Year to date, BEVs were 23.1% of the market, well short of the 33% the ZEV mandate requires for 2026. The UK has registered 764,101 new cars in 2026 so far, up 9.0%.
April 2026, UK headline numbers
| Metric | April 2026 | vs April 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total new car registrations | 149,247 | +24.0% |
| BEV registrations | 39,084 | +59.1% |
| BEV share | 26.2% | 20.4% a year earlier |
| YTD 2026 total | 764,101 | +9.0% |
| YTD 2026 BEV share | 23.1% | 20.7% a year earlier |
Top 5 best-selling models, April 2026
| Rank | Model | Units |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford Puma | 4,211 |
| 2 | Kia Sportage | 3,645 |
| 3 | Nissan Qashqai | 2,846 |
| 4 | Volkswagen Golf | 2,845 |
| 5 | MINI Cooper | 2,577 |
What's driving the BEV jump
Two factors compounded in April: continued manufacturer-funded BEV discounting in response to the ZEV mandate (covered in our UK ZEV mandate explainer), and a weak April 2025 comparator of 24,558 BEVs, depressed by the tax changes. SMMT's release also notes billions in manufacturer discounts and the government's Electric Car Grant, introduced in 2025.
Year-to-date context
UK 2026 monthly cadence so far: January 144,127, February 90,100, March 380,627 (plate change), April 149,247, for a year-to-date total of 764,101. SMMT's outlook published with the April data raised its 2026 market forecast to 2.093 million cars but cut its BEV share forecast to 26.8% from 28.5%, still short of the 33% ZEV target. Later data: BEV share for January to September 2026 reached 26.2% on SMMT's preliminary figures (SMMT, 2 October 2026).
Source & methodology
Figures from the SMMT April 2026 monthly release. Powertrain definitions follow SMMT's classification. The full year-to-date trend chart, brand share and powertrain mix sit on the UK dashboard.
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