Vehicle licensing statistics: January to March 2023
Published 16 August 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-licensing-statistics-january-to-march-2023/vehicle-licensing-statistics-january-to-march-2023
About this release
This release presents statistics on motor vehicles in the United Kingdom (UK), which are based on administrative data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
These cover:
- new vehicle registrations
- licensed vehicles
- plug-in vehicles
- zero emission vehicles
A range of detailed datasets are available online. Also available is a full list of definitions used in this release.
These statistics cover the whole of the United Kingdom, which is Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland. However, long term trends (over 8 years) can only be looked at for Great Britain, as the United Kingdom data are only available from July 2014.
If you have any feedback on this release, please contact vehicles statistics.
Headline figures
Latest figures for 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March), show that the number of new registrations was up 16% in the UK, with new plug-in vehicle registrations up 13%. New battery electric car registrations for 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March) increased 19% on the previous year.
Comparing 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March) with 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March), there were:
- 653,000 vehicles registered for the first time in the UK, up 16% (VEH0150)
- 114,000 plug-in vehicles registered for the first time in the UK, up 13% (VEH1153a)
- 76,000 battery electric (BEV) cars registered for the first time in the UK, up 19% (VEH1153a)
At the end of March 2023, there were 40.8 million licensed vehicles in the UK, an increase of 1.1% compared to the end of March 2022. There were more than 1.2 million licensed plug-in vehicles in the UK, an increase of 45% compared to the end of March 2022. There were 770,000 battery electric vehicles licensed in the UK, an increase of 58% compared to the end of March 2022. (VEH0101a)
New vehicle registrations: overview
There were 653,000 vehicles registered for the first time in the UK during 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March). This was a 16% increase compared to 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March) (VEH0150).
Table 1: Vehicles registered for the first time in the first quarter (January to March) by body type, United Kingdom, 2022 and 2023 (VEH0150)
| Body type | 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March): New registrations (thousands) | 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March): New registrations (thousands) | New registrations (year on year percentage change) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cars | 503 | 427 | +17.8 % |
| Light goods vehicles (LGVs) | 90 | 77 | +17.3% |
| Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) | 13 | 11 | +16.5% |
| Motorcycles | 30 | 31 | -1.4% |
| Buses and coaches | 1 | 1 | -12.4% |
| Other vehicles | 16 | 14 | +16.2% |
| Total | 653 | 561 | +16.4% |
New electric vehicle registrations
In 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March), 114,000 plug-in vehicles were registered for the first time in the UK, an increase of 13% on 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March). Plug-in vehicles accounted for 18% of all new UK road using vehicle registrations in 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March), the same as in 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March) (VEH1153a).
Table 2: Plug-in vehicles registered for the first time by body type, with previous year and total new registrations comparison, United Kingdom, 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March) (VEH1153a)
| Body type | 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March): New registrations | 2022 Quarter 1 (January to March): New registrations | Year on year percentage change | 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March): Proportion of all new road using vehicle registrations that are plug-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cars | 107,549 | 93,901 | +14.5% | 21.4% |
| Light goods vehicles | 4,635 | 4,537 | +2.2% | 5.2% |
| Heavy goods vehicles | 366 | 68 | +438.2% | 2.9% |
| Motorcycles | 750 | 1,810 | -58.6% | 2.5% |
| Buses and coaches | 285 | 241 | +18.3% | 24.0% |
| Other vehicles | 490 | 453 | +8.2% | 36.6% |
| Total | 114,075 | 101,010 | +12.9% | 17.9% |
Chart 1: Plug-in vehicles registered for the first time in the first quarter (January to March) by fuel type, United Kingdom, 2015 the first quarter (January to March) to 2023 the first quarter (January to March) (VEH0181a)
Chart 1 shows the number of new plug-in vehicle registrations in the first quarter (January to March) since 2015, which has increased every year. Since 2020, BEVs have accounted for the majority of new plug-in vehicle registrations. In 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March), BEVs accounted for 72% of new plug-in vehicle registrations, with PHEVs accounting for 27% and range extended electric vehicles (REEVs) accounting for less than 1%.
Licensed vehicles: summary
At the end of March 2023, there were 40.8 million licensed vehicles in the UK, which was a 1.1% increase compared to the end of March 2022. (VEH0101a)
At the end of March 2023, there were more than 1.2 million licensed plug-in vehicles in the UK, an increase of 45% compared to the end of March 2022. There were 770,000 battery electric vehicles licensed in the UK, an increase of 58% compared to the end of March 2022. At the end of March 2023, plug-in vehicles accounted for 3.0% of all licensed road using vehicles, compared to 2.1% at the end of March 2022. (VEH0141a)
Of the 1,219,000 licensed plug-in vehicles in the UK at the end of March 2023 (VEH0141a):
- 701,000 were BEV cars (58%)
- 432,000 were PHEV cars (35%)
- 49,000 were BEV light goods vehicles (4%)
- 13,000 were BEV motorcycles (1%)
- 35,000 were other remaining categories including buses and coaches body types and REEV vehicles (3%)
Background notes
About these figures
Almost all the statistics in the vehicle licensing statistics series are derived by Department for Transport statisticians from extracts of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) vehicle database. The main purpose of the database is to administer vehicle registration and licensing records in the United Kingdom.
For further information about the data used in this release, please see our guidance page which contains:
- detailed notes and definitions
- a note on users and uses of these statistics
There is also a Statement of Administrative Sources for the DVLA vehicles database.
In this release, numbers may not add up to totals and percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Geographic coverage
In July 2014, vehicle and registration services for Northern Ireland were centralised at DVLA, where these services for Great Britain were already administered. This created a single vehicle register for the United Kingdom, in place of separate registers for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. From this time, statistics can be provided for both Great Britain and the United Kingdom.
This statistical release focuses on the United Kingdom for recent trends in vehicles but uses data for Great Britain to review long term trends.
Strength and weaknesses of the data
The databases used for these statistics can be regarded as being virtually complete in terms of the number of vehicles registered for the first time, licensed vehicles, and vehicles with a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification). However, there may be some errors in some of the specific details of individual vehicles.
The Department for Transport has previously estimated that under 2% of the vehicle records have an inaccuracy in one of the variables used for the statistics published. Other factors to consider in interpreting these statistics include:
- changes in legislation
- seasonal variation which affects some vehicle types
- foreign registered vehicles may also use UK roads without being registered with DVLA
- Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) evasion
Most of these factors will only have a marginal effect for most uses of the data.
National Statistics
These statistics were designated as National Statistics in April 2012.
National Statistics are produced to the high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found in the pre-release access list.
Next release
Vehicle licensing statistics are published quarterly with a once a year extended annual release.
Dates of future release dates will be advertised via the DfT statistical publications schedule.
To hear more about DfT statistics publications as they are released, please follow us on Twitter.
Related sources of information
There are more recent data than published here available from various industry bodies covering most vehicle sales.
For car and van data, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) publish monthly shortly after the month-end, in advance of the publication of DfT’s detailed official statistics. This can be useful to look at the latest trends in vehicle registrations. Although there are slight differences in coverage of the SMMT data, the volumes and trends published by SMMT are generally consistent with DfT published data.
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