Well, that was a bit awkward. In the first month of 2026, a year when electric cars must sell like never before, the market share for such vehicles was lower than it was in January 12 months ago.

 

A handful of the many new car sales trends already emerging in ’26: around two in every 10 cars bought are 100-per cent EVs, almost three in ten are hybrids, and five in ten are powered solely by combustion engines. Therefore, eight in ten new cars feature fuel tanks. That’s not what the UK Government wants or expects, given its heavily promoted Electric Car Grant.