ELECTRIC CAR SALES HIT RECORD AS DIESEL PRICE TOPS £2 A LITRE

Almost 100,000 electric cars were registered in the UK in September 2026, the busiest month yet for the sector, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The trade body recorded 99,199 all-electric registrations, up 36.3 per cent on September last year, giving electric vehicles a 28.3 per cent share of the new car market, more than one in four cars sold and five percentage points higher than a year earlier. Diesel cars accounted for just 4 per cent of new registrations in September, the SMMT said. The figures were published as the average price of a litre of diesel in the UK passed £2 for the first time, on Friday. The Chinese-made Jaecoo 7 was September's best-selling new car, with 10,813 registrations, the second time it has topped the monthly chart this year. Tesla's Model 3 took second place overall.

Ford's Puma was third in September with 6,958 registrations, the Kia Sportage fourth on 6,521 and Tesla's Model Y fifth on 5,946, putting two Tesla models among the month's five best-sellers. The Nissan Qashqai, Vauxhall Corsa, Volkswagen Golf, MG HS and Audi A3 completed the top ten, with just two registrations separating the Corsa in seventh from the Golf in eighth. For the year to date, the Ford Puma leads with 42,926 registrations, ahead of the Jaecoo 7 on 39,473 and the Kia Sportage on 37,085, while the Tesla Model 3 ranks ninth on 23,704. The wider new car market grew too, with registrations up 12.1 per cent to 350,518 in September, the SMMT said, the strongest September since 2017 and a tenth straight month of growth.

The SMMT attributed the rise in electric vehicle purchases to greater model choice, manufacturer discounts and the government's Electric Car Grant. The diesel price record came as the UK joined emergency talks with the European Union over diesel reserves, after Donald Trump said he might call on European countries to release their stocks. Diesel's share of the new car market has fallen to 4 per cent even as pump prices for the fuel have climbed to record levels. The SMMT's figures mark the clearest sign yet of how far electric vehicles have displaced diesel models among new car buyers this year.