One in four cars sold in the UK last month was electric, according to industry figures, but new registrations were driven by steep discounting.
Electric car sales grew in November for the 11th consecutive month, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) as carmakers raced to meet tough targets.
Manufacturers gave “massive” discounts worth around £4bn on electric vehicles (EVs), the SMMT said.
Some firms are expected to miss the government’s electric vehicle (EV) sales targets this year and could face fines, but flexibilities in the rules mean this is unlikely.
The rules say carmakers have to sell a certain amount of EVs but they are able to buy sales credits from other firms or “borrow” from their own quotas in future years.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said manufacturers were investing in electric vehicles “at unprecedented levels” and “spending billions on compelling offers”.
But he added: “Such incentives are unsustainable – industry cannot deliver the UK’s world-leading ambitions alone.”
New electric car registrations bucked a general downwards trend for other vehicles.
Although the bulk of demand for new cars came from fleet sales to businesses, this sector still saw sales fall overall. Private buyer sales also dropped.
Sales of new petrol cars fell by more than 17%, diesel cars fell by more than 10%, while hybrids and plug-in hybrids dropped by more than 3% and 1% respectively.
The government has promised to meet with carmakers to discuss EV targets. It has said the targets “will not be weakened” but it will discuss “flexibilities”.
Manufacturers have said they won’t be able to meet the current targets, which state EVs must make up 22% of cars sold in 2024, without more customer incentives.
That figure is currently at 18.7%, and they think they may hit 19% by the end of the year.
However, that still leaves them open to paying other manufacturers who have built up credits for selling EVs.
While many of those companies are either Chinese or make cars in China – for example, US firm Tesla – other carmakers may also have credits.
Manufacturers have long argued that it doesn’t make sense to subsidise Chinese firms by buying credits.
Earlier this month, both Ford and Stellantis, which owns Vauxhall, announced job cuts, which both partly pinned on the EV targets.
But both firms have previously raised doubts about their future in the UK because of other factors.
Ford closed its Bridgend factory in 2020, getting rid of 1,644 jobs, citing Covid as one of the reasons. Vauxhall’s former owner PSA Group suggested in 2019 that Brexit threatened its Luton factory.
In general UK-based companies have been embracing the move to electric, with JLR’s Jaguar attracting a lot of attention over its recent rebrand as an electric-only carmaker.
Other car brands are also outperforming the government’s EV targets.Vauxhall’s EVs represent 36% of its sales, Peugeot’s 29%, Renault’s 27%, MG’s 27% and Skoda’s 23%, according to the non-profit New AutoMotive.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said it was “alive to the global challenges the industry is facing”.
It is investing £2.3bn “to support industry and boost the uptake of electric vehicles,” the spokesperson said, adding that Labour’s manifesto commitment to phase out new cars with internal combustion engines by 2030 “has not changed”.