Used car market facing unprecedented shift

A new report predicts that electric vehicles will make up 28% of all used car sales in the period between 2024 and 2027.

According to the latest four-year market forecast published by Cox Automotive, up 2.3 million used EVs will be sold before 2027, representing a 160% increase in market share.

Meanwhile, hybrids are expected to account for 25% of total registrations, with two million units sold.

Trending in the opposite direction, diesels will shrink to just three per cent with only 62,000 units registered in 2027, while petrol sales will fall 12% to just a 35% share by 2028.

Philip Nothard, insight director, Cox Automotive said: “The registration of the millionth EV in the UK is an important milestone in the transition to zero-emission motoring. But with two in every five new cars joining the UK car parc this year forecast to be EV or hybrid, and with that proportion destined to grow rapidly in future years, dynamics in the used market over the next four years will arguably rival the complexity and impact of those experienced during the pandemic.”

He continued: “It’s almost impossible to overstate the shift in the UK car parc over the past four years and how that change will continue to accelerate. Manufacturers will continue to be driven by legislation rather than consumer demand and ICE will be all but gone from the UK new car market long before the 2035 deadline. For used car retailers, this means a battle for the best stock, for consumers it means diminishing choice and above-inflation price increases.”