EVs Take 35.5% Share Of The UK – BYD Atto 2 Launches – CleanTechnica

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September saw plugin EVs take 35.5% share of the UK auto market, up from 29.4% year-on-year. BEVs grew in volume by 29% YoY, while PHEVs grew 56%. Overall auto volume was 312,891 units, up some 14% YoY. Tesla was the UK’s leading BEV brand for the month.

September’s sales totals saw combined plugin EVs take 35.5% share of the UK auto market, with full electrics (BEVs) taking 23.3%, and plugin hybrids (PHEVs) taking 12.2%. These compare with YoY shares of 29.4% combined, 20.5% BEV, and 8.9% PHEV.

The reintroduction of BEV purchase incentives, although bungled, may now be giving a boost to BEV sales at lower price points within the price cap. Since the July introduction was messy, there was considerable hold-back of purchases, so we may be seeing a concomitant rebound now. If so, the market will take a couple more months to settle.

There is a higher “Band 1” incentive (£3,750) which only the Ford Puma and Ford E-Torneo are eligible for. Other models get the lower “Band 2” amount of £1,500. These include several Stellantis cars, some Renaults, some VW Group MEB cars, and a couple of Japanese models. You can check the full list here.

But what is the price cap for eligibility? Originally, the UK government said that the price cap was £37,000. But – presumably after pressure from some manufacturers (e.g. Toyota) – they increased the cap to £42,000 in August. Not by coincidence, the increased cap now accommodates the Toyota BZ4X (UK starting price £41,595). Recall that UK taxes classify cars over £40,000 as subject to the “luxury tax”… so how does this raising of the incentive cap to £42,000 make any sense ?

Given that we know that compelling BEVs can be made for well under £25,000, perhaps that should be the cap – to encourage more competition at the affordable end of the market (which would also pull down prices in the above segments). The grant could be a modest £1,000 at prices <£25,000 and increase by £200 for each £1000 lower MSRP. Thus an incentive of £2,000 at <£20,000, and £3,000 for MSRPs under £15,000.

This sounds rational and would support the mass-market segments, but in the world of UK politics, where corporations, the financial class, politicians, and the rest of the ruling class schmooze together, this isn’t going to happen. The actual government scheme is not designed primarily to help struggling consumers, it is designed primarily to help protect the short-term profits of rent-seeking legacy auto makers and their shareholders.

Best-Selling Brands

With their usual end-of-quarter push, Tesla led the BEV brands in September with 10.9% market share. Ford came second with 9.1%, and BYD came in third with 7.5%.

Ford has stepped up its game in 2025, taking the second spot a few times, typically behind Volkswagen (when Tesla was having its quiet months). This is the first time Ford has overtaken Volkswagen, albeit to come second in a Tesla-heavy month. Let’s see whether Ford might take the top spot in October or November.

Likewise, BYD has stepped up this year, often in the top 10, and taking a record third place in September. This success is helped by BYD’s wide array of segments and price points, with 6 distinct models, from the Dolphin Surf at the affordable end, through to the Sealion in the D/E segment.

The Sealion was inside the top 10 best-selling models in September, with over 1,800 units. I don’t have clear data for the Dolphin Surf, but it may have sold roughly 500 units.

BYD also debuted a new model in September, the BYD Atto 2, a B/C segment SUV (4,310 mm length). The Atto 2 registered 211 initial units, a decent start. It comes with either a 45.1 kWh or 58 kWh (usable) LFP battery option, with WLTP range of 214 miles and 267 miles respectively. 10-80% charging takes just 25 minutes on the larger battery version, and 37 minutes on the smaller battery. Price starts from £30,850 for the smaller battery, and £34,950 for the larger battery.

Another debutant was the Suzuki Vitara, which saw 18 initial registrations. The original Vitara has been around for decades as a good value and reliable compact SUV with AWD, and now comes in a BEV version (with a very similar size to the Atto 2, above).

Unfortunately, not only is Suzuki late to the EV transition, but the Vitara is in fact a rebadged clone of the Toyota Urban Cruiser (which is about to launch in the next couple of months). On the plus side, the pricing starts at £29,999 for the 47.8 kWh (usable) entry version (214 miles WLTP), and £32,999 for the 59.8 kWh (265 miles WLTP). More expensive variants with AWD are also available. Charging speeds are slow (45+ minutes), so this isn’t the best vehicle for frequent road-trippers.

The last debutant in September was the Mercedes CLA sedan, which saw an impressive 770 registrations right out of the gate. I’ve covered the CLA elsewhere, it’s basically a Tesla Model 3 competitor with slightly higher pricing and much faster charging. It should prove popular in the UK market.

Of the recently launched BEV models, the Ford Puma is doing well, with over 2,300 units in September, likely in the top 3 best-selling models (our data source, the UK DVLA is not quite precise/complete enough to know the exact sales numbers). The new MG IM5 and IM6 siblings scored around 130 and 150 units respectively. The slightly older MG S5 is also doing well, with over 1,200 sales in September, almost double its previous best (July).

The XPeng G6 had its best ever month, with over 270 units. Finally, the new Vauxhall Frontera, which just launched in August, is already doing very well, with around 500 units in September (and vying with the Peugeot 208 to be Stellantis’ top seller in the UK).

Turning to the small-and-affordable segments – the Dacia Spring is doing great, with ~830 units sold in September. It can be found from as little as £12,000 (dealer offers), making it the UK’s most affordable car (of any powertrain). In fact, only the Leapmotor T03 comes close (offers from £13,989), as the cheapest ICE cars cost from £15,000 and above. Of course, the T03 is also a popular BEV, selling around 310 units in September. In short – entry BEVs are now able to undercut entry ICE vehicles (Kia Picanto, Dacia Sandero, MG3, Seat Arona) in their “street” pricing.

Interestingly, the Dacia Spring, which went on sale in October 2024, is also retaining its value quite well. The most affordable second-hand Spring in the UK is currently around £9,900 (3 or 4 examples at this price point). Owners obviously love them and are keeping hold of them, limiting supply. We often hear the narrative that BEVs have high depreciation, but this only occurs with BEV which are overpriced to begin with. BEVs which are priced sensibly from the outset, retain their value very well – due to offering potentially decades of reliable and low running-cost personal transport. This is not something ICE vehicles are able to offer, due to fuel prices and mechanical issues with age.

A quick September ranking of the small-and-affordable BEVs shows the Renault 5 in the lead (~870 units), followed by the Dacia Spring (~830 units), Hyundai Inster (~700 units), likely then the BYD Dolphin Surf (around 500 units, but the DVLA data is vague), the Citroen e-C3 (~400 units), and the Leamotor T03 (310 units). The new Renault 4, which has only recently appeared in the UK, saw over 80 units in September and will keep growing.

Let’s turn to the 3-month chart:

Tesla is leading, with 9.8% share of the UK BEV market, and Ford is now in second with 8.7%, solidly ahead of Volkswagen (7.8%). This is the first time that Ford has overtaken VW in the 3-month chart, and it climbed up from 4th in Q2. This is largely thanks to the huge popularity of the new Puma BEV, and partly because VW have been slacking up recently.

Further back, BYD has climbed to 4th, from 8th in Q2, and Mercedes climbed to 7th, from 13th in Q2. Meanwhile BMW and Skoda dropped slightly, though within normal variation.

BMW will be hoping that their upcoming neue klasse platform will boost them back close to the top in the UK, and I expect those models will indeed be relatively popular.

Outlook

The ZEV mandate is working, and the grants are helping somewhat (though mainly helping the profits of legacy auto).

The UK macroeconomy remains unremarkable with headline figures of 1.2% YoY GDP growth, as of the latest Q2 data. The real economy that many people experience day to day is tougher than these figures suggest. Headline inflation has remained flat at 3.8% since July. BOE interest rates have remained at 4.0% since early August to 4.0%. Manufacturing PMI dropped to 46.2 points in September, from 47 points in August.

What are you expecting from the transition in the UK for the rest of this year? Which models or brands will climb in the months ahead? Please share your thoughts and perspectives in the comments below.