UK new-car registrations reached 350,536 in September 2026, the market’s strongest September since 2017 and a 12% increase on the same month a year earlier, according to the SMMT. Chinese brands supplied 81,775 vehicles, up 110% year over year and equal to 23.3% of the market. Without those brands, the rest of the industry would have contracted by about 2%, the report said.
BYD finished second among manufacturers with 20,140 registrations, a record for the brand in the UK and 78.7% more than in September 2025. Volkswagen led with 25,972, while Kia placed third at 18,399 and MG recorded 18,026. No BYD model made the month’s top 10, suggesting its sales were spread across its range. Jaecoo, meanwhile, registered 15,057 vehicles as a brand, and its Jaecoo 7 SUV alone topped the model chart with 10,814 sales—more than Hyundai’s entire 10,003-unit total.
Battery-electric cars set a September record at 99,201 registrations, more than 28% of the market, while petrol-only models fell 6.7% to 131,864. Across the first nine months of 2026, the UK recorded 1,739,271 new cars, up 10.2%. Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles together accounted for 45.3% of year-to-date sales, ahead of petrol-only cars at 37.6%.