Rising electric vehicle discounts could boost retail sales (video)

Demand for new electric vehicles is stuttering compared to the rapid rises in volumes and market share of recent years due to a lack of interest from retail buyers – and that has significant implications for fleet operators, according to Auto Trader UK director of automotive finance Rachael Jones.

“Just under 17% of all sales in April were electric, way off the 22% target,” said Jones on the launch edition of the Fleet News/Auto Trader Quarterly Market Insight.

“And if we look at of all the brands that should be hitting that target, 20 out of the 36 non-EV brands are not there yet. They're not getting to that 22%.

“OEMs are outwardly saying that they don't intend to pay fines. I'd say that feels like discounts, but at the same time, they've also saying they're not going to be loss making. So it's finding that careful balance.”

Video: Fleet News editor Stephen Briers talks to Auto Trader's Ian Plummer and Rachael Jones

Data from the Auto Trader website reveals that in the March plate change, discounts on new electric vehicles reached their highest since September 2021 at an average of 11%. That compared to an average discount on petrol of 8% and diesel 6%.
“We're also seeing an increase in the volume of pre-registration vehicles,” Jones added. “So that's another sign that that, that retail market is struggling with natural demand.”

The latest registrations figures for May indicate the rise in electric car discounts is starting to have an impact, at least in the corporate and salary sacrifice markets, with BEV volumes up 6.2% year-on-year to claim the highest share of total registrations so far in 2024, at 17.6%.

As a result, the year-to-date market share of BEV has risen to 16.1%, compared to 15.7% in the first five months of 2023.