Demand for BEVs in the used car market soared in April and May because of the rise in fuel prices caused by the Middle East conflict.
The latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Trader found April BEV sales surged 110.9% and May 57.6% due to the conflict and a relatively weak performance last year when VED changes came into effect.
Overall, the UK’s used car market returned to growth in the second quarter, up 0.7% as 2,009,318 vehicles changed hands,
The performance marked the first Q2 since 2021 in which volumes surpassed two million units, with transactions just -1.2% below pre-pandemic levels.
This helped offset the marginal decline recorded in Q1, delivering overall market growth of 0.2% year to date, with 4,025,550 transactions.
In the second quarter, battery electric car transactions rose 67.0% to 110,761 units, the strongest quarterly growth since Q1 2024.
Between April and June, more than one in 18 buyers (5.5%) made the switch, up from around one in 30 (3.3%) a year ago, reflecting the growing choice of models entering the market.
Hybrid electric vehicle sales also rose, up 31.2% to 130,825 units, increasing their market share to 6.5% from 5.0% in the same period last year. Plug-in hybrid transactions, meanwhile, fell by -6.8% to 22,856 units, accounting for 1.1% of overall demand, down from 1.2% in 2025.
Petrol remained the most popular fuel type, despite transactions falling by -1.2% to 1,121,243, while diesel sales continued to decline, down -7.2% to 620,045, reflecting shorter supply from the new car market. Even so, almost nine in 10 (86.7%) buyers still chose conventionally fuelled cars in the quarter.
Superminis remained Britain’s best-selling used car type, accounting for 31.7% of demand, with volumes rising 0.2%. The lower medium segment followed, with a 26.6% market share and a 0.2% increase. Dual purpose cars recorded the strongest growth, up 7.4% to secure 17.7% of overall sales.
Following the trend in the new car market, monochrome colours dominated, with more than one million used cars sold in black, grey or white (1,134,536).
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said the return to growth was welcome but reiterated his belief that unrealistic targets in the new car market risk constraining that supply and pushing up costs. He called for “urgent regulatory reform” to sort the issue.
