Tuesday 5th Feb 2019
Jon Lawes, managing director of Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, comments on January’s SMMT new car registration figures.
The figures show that overall new car registrations fell by 1.6% in January 2019, with sales of diesel vehicles falling 20.3%. However, registrations of alternatively fuelled vehicles rose by 26.3%, resulting in a total 6.8% market share.
Jon says: “With an increase of over 26% in the adoption of AFV registrations, there is clearly a growing confidence in electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid cars.
“This demonstrates an ever increasing awareness that AFVs can provide significant cost savings whilst meeting air quality guidelines which are increasingly at the forefront of vehicle purchase decision making.
“Although fleet and notably business registrations have dipped markedly, initiatives such as Optimise Prime, the world's biggest trial of commercial electric vehicles, will accelerate the transition amongst drivers as they become more confident in the charging infrastructure supporting AFVs.”