Safety, value and instinct: what's really driving the UK car market?

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT)'s report on the UK car market has just revealed that UK registrations tipped over 2 million in 2025 for the first time since the pandemic. Despite a near non-stop barrage of negative economic news and tales of woe, UK car buyers are back.

Much has been said about how people will surely soon move to shared mobility, or that cars are so good now (or so annoying) that people just don't need (or want) a new one. And yet, the great British public have turned up at their dealerships in greater numbers than at any time in the last 5 years, to buy one very specific type of car. Why?

What are we to make of this apparent V-flick to the economic doom-mongers? There are, as ever, numerous factors making up the final stats. Here are the five factors I think it's worth paying attention to.

1. Most of the cars in the top 10 are... of a type

Gone are the days when 4-door saloons like the BMW 3 Series, or little hatchbacks, were de rigueur. There are no saloons at all in the top 10 and only 2 hatchbacks. Everything else (or nearly everything else) is a small or mid-size SUV.

Why have we switched to super-capable rock-hoppers, with action features and the ability to wade through storm surges? Has a huge proportion of the UK population suddenly switched careers to forest fire-fighting or hill-farming?

My guess, having met and interviewed possibly 1000's of people like this, is they haven't. They're probably very normal families with kids and budgets and some simple, basic human drivers: what these families are seeking is safety and value.

SUVs deliver these feelings (if not the facts) in abundance. A high riding car means you can see more and you feel less vulnerable. A bigger car feels safer, accident stats can't influence your physical feelings. So, for anyone with a family, or a dog, or anyone in the car that they care about, choosing an SUV is pretty much inevitable.

Plus, you know, we might go to the Lake District next year. I should think.

2. The best selling car in the country is an SUV. Or is it?

The Ford Puma was, by some distance, the best selling car in the UK in 2025. It is definitely not a classic hatchback. But neither does it have knobbly tyres, bull bars, and a wade function. It is one of a plethora of vehicles offering something different to what people used to think of as 'types' of car.

Cars are becoming more homogenous, for sure, but they are arriving at a place where they are capable of almost everything that most buyers think they want their car to do. The Puma is the best-selling car in the UK because it's really damn good. It drives well, it's got lots of kit, it's fast enough, economical enough, it doesn't break down, it's cheap to run, you can get stuff in it, and you can still park it. And there are another 9 cars in the top 10 that can do likewise, but with a brand, price, or styling twist.

Some in the press think Ford have lost it. They lament the demise of the fun, practical, every-man car of yesteryear. But, fear not, oh ghosts of Christmas Past, you're looking at it. I had one. It was brilliant.

So why are people buying these cars now? Because what's on offer is actually really good. It's a compelling case; and, unless you're some sort of retro-obsessed technophobe, these cars are head and shoulders better than what was on offer 10 or even 5 years ago. Car companies are making stuff people want, and they're making it easy to buy.

3. Lots happened in the car world during, and post, pandemic

Good cars, leases, and other clever ownership models were around in 2022 and 2023, so why is this happening now?

If you're in the car sales world, you have been living in interesting times for the past few years. Some were times of significant boom and then of bust, from when a simple ordinary year-old car could sell for 20 or 30% more than its new list price, to sudden crashes in nailed-on investment products. Like Porsche GT3s only being worth what they cost (don't cry for these speculators).

But, I believe two elements have created this bumper year: longer ownership cycles, and the final unwinding of the post-pandemic weirdness.

In and around the pandemic, you couldn't buy a car. Chip shortages, closed factories, and stuck boats meant car buying went haywire. We are now entering 3-to-4 years since this phase, and it's time for some to change out the car they got then, and for others to finally relinquish the car they've strung out for an extra year or two and get something new.

This second element, the longer ownership cycle, is kind of the manufacturers' fault: the cars they were building were pretty good 5 years ago, a lot of people didn't need a new one. Every car does 100,000 miles without issue these days, and if it does your basics well and doesn't harass you (cf. all new cars with speed limit warnings) why change?

Well, the time to change came up, and it was 2025. That's two cycles coinciding; so this may not be repeated next year. But there was also something else: electricity.

4. Lots of buyers we talk to had an EV on their list

They knew they needed to consider it, and the sales numbers were way up in 2025 to 23.4% of cars sold, but not nearly at the 30% they need to be, and soon EVs will pay a form of road tax too. That's going to make people ask if they can put up with the inconvenience, since charging away from home is, frankly, still a pain, and an expensive one at that.

Lots of people were sitting on their hands to see if they needed to, or if they really could, own an EV. Many found out that they could, and that as a mobility tool an EV is fantastic: reliable, quiet, cheap to run (if you charge at home). But many more people found out that they couldn't, or wouldn't, buy one. So, they got off their hands and went to the dealership to buy an ICE SUV.

5. Why are we surprised?

Why are we surprised by this apparent bounce when all around us people are losing their heads about the economy, politics, cars being rubbish and everything?

Things are never as bad as they seem. The media needs a narrative. They've got to keep the cycle spinning. So don't believe everything you read. Just this. You can believe me if you wish.