Automotive market update - September: New car market up 12% as EVs achieve a record month

Welcome to our monthly market insight article where we provide a snapshot of what’s happening in the UK automotive market. Each month, we highlight key industry updates and trends, including electric vehicle (EV) adoption, plus our vehicle leasing insights.

Here Managing Director Kelly Marshall gives her take on September’s performance.

What’s happening with new car sales in the UK?

September is one of the most important months of the year for the new car market as the plate change boosts sales. This September turned out to be the strongest since 2017, with 350,536 new cars registered, according to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Sales were up for the tenth month in a row, driven by a record performance for full electric cars. The SMMT says 99,201 EVs joined the road - the equivalent of almost five every minute.

At Gateway2Lease, our electric car sales have been strong throughout the year but last month they reached a staggering 77% of our total order volume, including cars sold through our salary sacrifice partner The Electric Car Scheme.

Overall, we experienced our second-strongest September on record, behind only September 2025. Business contract hire (BCH) continued to take the lion’s share of our new, used and salary sacrifice orders at 77%, with the remaining 23% being personal contract hire (PCH).

What drove sales in September?

Consumers and company car drivers now have much greater choice thanks to new Chinese car brands entering the UK market. That’s led to intense competition between manufacturers and some fantastic deals on new cars, particularly when manufacturer discounts are combined with the Government’s Electric Car Grant.

We’re pleased to report that we've just been recognised by both BYD and Polestar for being among their top performing car leasing brokers. We’re in the top five for both brands and we’ve really risen up the rankings with BYD. Those sales reflect the hard work of our procurement team, led by Procurement Director Felice Di Cello and his son Matt Di Cello as Procurement Manager, and our recently expanded sales team headed by Jade Bickerton.

EV sales up 36.3%

Compared to September 2025, EV sales were up more than a third (36.35%) this September to reach a market share of 28.3%. Plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) also achieved record sales (up an impressive 55.5% year-on-year) and record market share (17%). Hybrid sales dipped 4.3%, however.

At Gateway2Lease, PHEVs made up 11% of our orders, including salary sacrifice. Hybrids accounted for 6%, as did petrol and diesel car orders.

Seven of our top 10 models in September were fully electric, with the Tesla Model Y retaining the top spot for the third month running.

Gateway2Lease’s top 10 most popular cars in September*

1. Tesla Model Y
2. BYD Seal
3. Jaecoo 5 Electric
4. BMW iX1
5. Chery Tiggo 9
6. Omoda 5
7. Tesla Model 3
8. Polestar 2
9. Volkswagen T-Roc
10. Skoda Karoq

*Includes cars sold through The Electric Car Scheme

The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars in September

1. Jaecoo 7
2. Tesla Model 3
3. Ford Puma
4. Kia Sportage
5. Tesla Model Y
6. Nissan Qashqai
7. Vauxhall Corsa
8. Volkswagen Golf
9. MG HS
10. Audi A3