Meanwhile, Seat sales increased by 42.5%, to 28,741. That puts its market share at 1.63% – and Cupra well within touching distance for 2024.
The launch of the Cupra Tavascan – as well as facelifts for the Leon and Formentor and the addition of a high-performance VZ variant of the Born – could be the spark that Cupra needs to make it happen.
Polestar surges amid uptick in EV registrations
It has been a year of peaks and troughs in the UK’s electric car market. Year-on-year, EV sales volumes are up by 27.5%, to 286,846.
However, their market share hasn’t grown in the near-exponential manner seen over the past few years. They now represent 16.3% of the UK’s entire new car market, up just 1.2% compared with last year.
Nonetheless, Polestar made great strides toward contending as a major player: its sales grew by 83.3%, to 11,441 cars.
Its market share now sits at 0.65%, magnitudes greater than similarly conceived Genesis (0.07%) and nearing brands anchored by ICE cars, such as Lexus (0.81%) and Jaguar (0.75%).
Of course, there’s still much work to be done before it can rival Tesla (2.50%) or parent firm Volvo (2.61%), let alone Germany’s big three luxury brands, which all sit north of 4.50%.
The completion of Polestar’s line-up with a luxury SUV, a family crossover and a luxury saloon – the Polestar 3, Polestar 4 and Polestar 5 respectively – will doubtless help it along.
MG’s meteoric rise continues
MG is perhaps the greatest success story of the past five years, taking its market share from a measly 0.38% to 4.23% over that period.
The Chinese brand now sells more cars in the UK than Peugeot (3.37%) and Skoda (3.67%) and is nearing Hyundai (4.65%) too.
The success of the eminently affordable MG 4 EV in the electric car market has helped MG to make an impact in perception as much as raw sales counts, which are up 54.9% year on year to 74,524.