The UK new car market hit 2.02M in 2025 versus Germany at 2.86M, France at 1.63M and Italy at 1.52M (ACEA, 27 January 2026). The UK remains Europe's second-largest new car market, behind Germany and well ahead of France and Italy. But its volume is still well below the 2016 peak, a decline that reflects both Brexit-era and pandemic-era supply disruptions and fleet/leasing market changes.
Three Post-Brexit Effects
First, Brexit added customs paperwork to imports from the EU just as the 2021-2023 chip shortage was depressing supply. Second, the UK now runs its own vehicle approval regime outside the EU system. Third, the divergence of the UK ZEV mandate from EU CO2 fleet rules created two parallel regulatory regimes for OEMs.
What's Different About the UK Now
Fleet buyers took 59.1% of UK new car registrations in 2025 (SMMT). UK BEV share at 23.4% is well ahead of the EU average of 17.4%. Among the big markets, Spain grew fastest in 2025, up 12.9%, while France fell 5.0%.
Compare UK with Germany side-by-side on the cross-market dashboard.