New car sales in Britain jumped 26 percent in June thanks to solid demand for electric vehicles from businesses and fleet buyers, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said in a statement.
The SMMT said new-car sales rose to 177,266 units last month, the 11th consecutive month of growth, though volumes remained below pre-pandemic levels.
As electric vehicle registrations grew 39 percent in the same period, SMMT also called for a cut in value added tax (VAT) on public charging to drive up EV adoption.
Drivers able to charge at home pay just 5 percent VAT to power up their EV, compared with 20 percent for those who are reliant on the public network, according to SMMT.
"This is unfair and risks delaying greater uptake, so cutting VAT on public EV charging will help make owning an EV fairer and attractive to more people," CEO Mike Hawes said in the statement.
Meanwhile, close to a million new cars joined U.K. roads in the first six months of 2023 with total registrations up 18 percent, and EV uptake was at a record 152,968 deliveries so far this year, the industry body said.
For June, deliveries of gasoline cars, which continue to represent the majority of registrations, increased 14 percent, while diesel registrations were down 22 percent.
Tesla's Model Y and Ford's Puma were the most popular cars among Britons for the month, the data showed.
