The UK registered 152,730 new cars in October 2026, up 5.4% on 144,945 in October 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT, 5 November 2026). It is the 11th consecutive month of growth, at around half the rate of the first ten months after a bumper September plate-change. The year to date stands at 1,892,000 registrations, up 9.8% on 1,723,117.
Battery-electric reaches 32.0%
Battery-electric registrations rose 32.7% to 48,858 units, a 32.0% share of the month and the highest of 2026, up from 25.4% a year earlier. Plug-in hybrids rose 30.1% to 22,898 units and a 15.0% share. Hybrids fell 5.0% to 18,287 (12.0%), petrol fell 11.6% to 56,876 (37.2%) and diesel fell 15.9% to 5,811 (3.8%). SMMT says plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars accounted for all of the growth, and that manufacturers intensified efforts to bring registrations closer to the annual mandated target, repeating the pattern of the previous two years.
Private, fleet and business
Fleet registrations rose 5.4% to 89,985 units, a 58.9% share. Private registrations rose 4.1% to 58,229 units (38.1%), and business registrations rose 24.5% to 4,516 units (3.0%). Year to date, private registrations are up 12.1% to 754,198 and fleet up 7.8% to 1,090,492.
The best seller
Car Dealer Magazine reports that the Jaecoo 7 was October's best-selling new car with 3,412 registrations, just ahead of the Ford Puma on 3,369, and that the Puma still leads the year to date on 46,295 against the Jaecoo 7's 42,885. This site's brand and model tables remain SMMT's January to September figures until the October tables are loaded.
The mandate gap
Year to date, 503,805 battery-electric cars have been registered, up 30.4%, a 26.6% share. SMMT's latest outlook expects a 27.2% BEV share for 2026 against the 33% ZEV Mandate target, widening to 32% against 38% in 2027 and 37.5% against 52% in 2028, and the industry is asking the government to revise the targets. Open the live UK dashboard for the monthly bars and the BEV share trend back to 2015.