National statistics

Vehicle licensing statistics: 2012

Statistics on licensed motor vehicles in Great Britain, derived from data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Documents

Vehicle licensing statistics: 2012

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Vehicle licensing statistics: 2012 tables

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If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email webmasterdft@dft.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

Information on motor vehicles in Great Britain that were licensed, or subject to a statutory off-road notification (SORN) on the 31 December 2012, or which were registered for the first time during 2012.

The statistics are derived from data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which administers vehicle registration and licensing records in Great Britain.

A supplement to these statistics along with the January to March release on 13 June (delayed from 16 May as previously announced). This will contain new experimental tables produced by linking DVLA records with the results of MOT testing held by the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency.

In 2012:

  • there were 34.5 million vehicles licensed for use on the roads in Great Britain, of which 28.7 million (83%) were cars.
  • the total vehicle stock increased by 0.9%
  • 2.47 million vehicles were registered for the first time in Great Britain in 2012, 3.7% up on the previous year.
  • the number of newly registered cars powered by diesel has continued to rise, exceeding 1 million for the first time
  • average CO2 emissions of cars newly registered fell to 133g/km
  • the number of private cars with a female registered keeper has increased by 70% since 1994
  • the most common car in Great Britain remained the Ford Focus (1.4 million), followed by the Ford Fiesta (1.3 million)

The Ford Fiesta had most new registrations, followed by the Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus.

Technical information

Information on vehicle licensing statistics, including the pre-release access list can be found on the vehicles guidance page.

Contact us

Vehicles statistics

Email vehicles.stats@dft.gov.uk

Public enquiries 020 7944 3077

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

Published 11 April 2013