UK: motor vehicle sales 2005-2022

In 2022, around 1.94 million motor vehicles were sold in the United Kingdom, down from its peak at around 3.1 million units in 2016. This figure represents a decrease of 5.1 percent year-on-year.

Sales slump amid coronavirus crisis

In 2022, the UK overtook France as the second-largest car market in Europe, a position it had lost since 2019. Despite this good regional performance, new passenger car registrations had dropped in the country in 2022. Amid Brexit, the automotive semiconductor shortage, raw material price inflation, and an overall cost of living crisis, the UK's automotive industry is facing various challenges and has yet to reach its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level.

Could a Brexit crisis be next?

The Brexit agreement sealed the UK's withdrawal from the European market in January 2020. There have been several pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions in the auto industry worldwide in 2020 and 2021. Some experts warn about more paperwork and slower supply chains overall in the wake of the Brexit referendum. Additionally, the UK has no time to lose to source electric vehicle batteries locally for manufacturing sites. All of this could mean that the UK motor vehicle industry might continue to suffer under component shortages for the next couple of years. Themotor industry contributed some 14.1 billion British pounds to the UK economy in 2021.